What Possesed You to do That?
by cip
Summary: The much awaited sequel of 'Haunted eyes.' Deidara's learning psychic skills, Itachi's learning how not to be a social retard and there's a spirit on the loose that's just looking for a convenient host.... Rated for swearing and yaoi don't be put off
1. Chapter 1

_**ITACHI, HELP!!! NOW! **_

Itachi looked down at the message and shook his head with a grin. It had been nearly a month ago that he'd received that text, but he'd saved it to his phone for the sheer hilarity the memory brought. In the passing time since then a cold wet October became a colder and above all _wetter_ November. Itachi had received – after that first one at half four in the morning – nearly seven more panicked messages from Deidara. Most were at stupid hours in the morning, and all were about the same thing:

Deidara's psychic talents were beginning to bloom and he was seeing ghosts _everywhere_.

The first time it had happened – the one that had sparked the message that Itachi now used as blackmail at every opportunity – the blonde had woken to see an old man standing at his desk. The panicking artist had sent the text to his friend only to be told to ignore the guy. Three days later Deidara had walked straight through someone in a school corridor. After receiving the text, it had taken Itachi nearly an hour to locate his traumatised friend in the history block toilets and explain about Steven, a boy who had died on the school grounds back in the 60's.

Yes, it had been a difficult few weeks.

Admittedly, they had still been the best weeks Itachi had spent since returning to the UK. The gang had met regularly and he was enjoying having such a large group of people to interact with. From rather shaky beginnings Kisame especially was becoming a firm friend. And of course, Deidara was still sticking to him like glue – not that he was complaining about that. He'd grown used to having the blonde by his side nearly 24/7, and it was a new feeling to always have someone to fall back on. As much as he'd had friends in Japan, they'd never been best friends. It was a rather childish thought, but part of him couldn't help but feel warm and cosy every time he mentally referred to Deidara as his best friend.

Even so, it was drawing to the end of the first term, and college work was beginning to pile up. At least, his was. Why was it that Deidara seemed to have so little to do whilst he was slaving away with course-work? Damn it!

Which was why he had to miss a meeting and was shut up in his room reading a politics text book thicker than the Bible. It was unfair, it really was! Not to mention his parents were out for the night, so Sasuke had leapt at the chance to throw a house party. A dozen or so rowdy teens running around the house with alcohol and blaring music did not make for ideal study conditions. He groaned and rubbed his temples as there was a thump and a girlish scream outside in the hall-way. It looked like it was going to be a long night. And to cap it all off a car horn began a fanfare right outside his window.

Itachi dropped his mobile and let his head fall forward to hit his desk with an audible thump. It was official, he must have done something _really_ bad in a past life! It was already half nine and he hadn't done a thing. And that bloody car-horn was still going at it!

Storming over to his window he pulled the curtains open to glare down at whoever the hell had the audacity to make such a bloody noise. A car sat on the road, a bright red Corsa that looked very familiar. It was dark outside of course, but he could still make out – by the yellow light of the street-lights – a large group of people around the vehicle.

Quickly locating the key, Itachi unlocked his window and opened it to lean out.

"What the hell are you lot doing here?!" He yelled down.

"Well, I sent you nine texts and three calls, so when you didn't answer we thought this was the best way to get your attention!" Deidara called back up, a wide grin plastered across his face. "It's not easy fitting seven people into a five seat car! Are you coming or what?"

"I don't follow..."

The blonde slapped his forehead. "Save us from imbeciles!" He groaned. "Let me in and I'll explain."

Itachi shut the window and ran down stairs to unlock the door. Deidara grinned, looking him up and down and chuckling at the Uchiha's appearance.

"Still working?"

"Yes, now what is it?"

The blonde's grin grew. "We're all going into town; a band is playing in Nottingham arena, interested?"

Itachi leant against the doorframe. "Deidara, I have tons of coursework to do, I can't just go into town..." But there was a reluctant tone in his voice – one that begged to be persuaded.

Deidara heard it and cocked his head to one side. "Are you sure? It's Nightwish who are playing..." He said enticingly.

"Nightwish..." Now there was definite longing in Itachi's voice. "Well, maybe I can afford to take a _little_ time off..." It was only now that he actually registered how Deidara was dressed, and looking over the blonde's shoulder he saw that the rest of the gang were also attired in concert-going gear. "But I don't have anything to wear, not to a rock concert!"

"Oh don't be stupid, you're bound to have _something_!"

"No, I really don-"

But Deidara had already grabbed his friend's hand and was dragging him upstairs back into the Uchiha's bedroom.

"Deidara, what are you doing?"

"Ransacking your wardrobe." The blonde stated cheerfully. Itachi sat down heavily in the chair at his desk, not really able to help much in picking a decent outfit. It seemed Deidara had an eye for this sort of thing – considering he was an artist and all. The blonde wasn't in his usual paint-splattered jeans and old t-shirt, which was miraculous in itself – Itachi had never seen him in anything else.

"You look good in black." He stated absentmindedly.

"Huh?" Deidara flushed slightly. "Oh, thanks." He coughed and threw a pair of deep blue jeans at his friend. "Put those on, I'll find a shirt to match." He kept his back to the Uchiha as Itachi changed, and resolutely dug through the shirt racks. Nearly the entire wardrobe was black, and he'd had trouble enough finding the jeans, so gave up on a coloured top as well. As it was a flash of lightness caught his eye and he pulled out a shirt – black of course – styled like a Japanese Yutaka, with grey edging. "Here you go." He tossed it over his shoulder and heard the dull thump of material as it landed on Itachi's head. Shutting the wardrobe he waited for the go ahead.

"Okay, I'm changed."

When Deidara turned round Itachi was fiddling with the hem line of his shirt and seemed genuinely uncomfortable.

"This really isn't me." He said awkwardly.

"Sure it is!" The blonde spun his startled friend round and pulled out the band that was holding Itachi's hair up. "There we go, perfect!" He ignored the Uchiha's protestations and prodded him towards the door. "Come on then, let's go."

Itachi was bewildered enough to allow his friend to drag him back downstairs and out of the door. "But...but Sasuke-"

"He's a big boy, he'll be fine." Deidara laughed. He waved to the rest of the gang. "Got him, let's go!"

Pein looked the Uchiha up and down and nodded approvingly. "Not bad, well done Dei. He looks good." He grinned as Itachi went red. "You ever been to a rock concert before Uchiha?"

"No, never." It wasn't hard to see that Itachi was less than thrilled about this venture.

"Well, good job you've got us here then." Konan chirped, draping an arm around Itachi's shoulders. Her neckline was nearly low enough to be criminal and the Uchiha went a deeper crimson. "We've been to hundreds; you'll have a great time!" She promised.

"How did you even get tickets?" Itachi asked, disentangling himself as politely as possible.

Pein shrugged airily. "We did a big job about five months ago, so I used some of the pay check to get them. We still had Tobi and Orochimaru with us then, so you and Dei have their tickets." He held out a couple of flimsy slips of paper and the two new members accepted them. The gang leader grinned and tilted his head towards the path. "Shall we get going?"

The rest of the group began ambling down the hill, leaving Itachi and Deidara to bring up the rear as they made their way down to the bus stop on the main road.

"Why aren't we driving in?" The Uchiha asked, as up front Konan complained loudly about walking in her heels. "I mean, you've got your car here, and I've got mine, there's easily enough room."

Deidara snorted. "Yeah, but I want to have a drink or two, and I don't want to drive after having alcohol. And knowing the others, they'll insist that you have something too, so we'll both be over the limit. So no driving."

You couldn't argue with that logic.

They reached the bus stop and crowded together under the flimsy shelter. It seemed to be human nature that despite the fact that it was merely three sheets of thin plastic, everyone assumed it would be warmer underneath. It took the bus nearly fifteen minutes to turn up – despite claiming that it came every ten – and by that point Konan had shivered enough to guilt-trip Pein into lending her his coat.

The bus was nearly empty, which was normal considering it was almost ten o-clock at night, and the only other passenger left a few stops later. Itachi was rather quiet, sitting next to the window and staring aimlessly at the street lights as they flashed by. Around him the others chatted excitedly, but he was feeling too nervous and uncomfortable with where he was going. Sure, he'd never been to a rock concert before, but he knew damn well that they involved being thrown around, squashed and having other people's drinks tipped on you. It really didn't sound all that appealing, but he was also loath to pass up the chance of seeing his favourite band. Damn, talk about a conundrum! At least he'd had the foresight to continue regularly having the medication for his haemophilia – it looked like tonight would earn him a whole lot of bruises.

"Hey, are you okay?" A soft touch on his arm brought him out of the melancholy thoughts. He turned to see Kisame leaning over from the seat behind to speak to him. "You don't seem as excited as everyone else." The lifeguard tilted his head in Deidara's direction, where the blonde was swinging round on one of the green poles usually meant for unseated passengers.

Itachi shook his head at the artist's antics

"I'm looking forward to it, of course. I just don't think that I have to make such a fool of myself because of that." He said sedately.

Kisame snickered. "Okay, I'll agree with you there; I'm not one for looking like an idiot either." He glanced at Itachi out of the corner of his eye. "You seem worried, are you really okay with coming to this event?"

"I'm fine." Itachi smiled slightly at the lifeguard, touched by the concern Kisame was showing for him. "I guess it's good for me to be dragged out of the comfortable rut I've dug for myself over the past year." His smile grew a bit more genuine. "I'll survive; I just have to make sure that Deidara doesn't force me into the Mosh-pit."

Kisame slapped him on the back. "That's the spirit!" He said cheerfully. His gaze was drawn back to the hyper-active artist and he shook his head with a grin. "How the hell did someone like _you_ ever become friends with a live-wire like him in the first place?" It was almost phrased as a rhetoric question, but Itachi answered anyway.

"We were put together for an R.E project." A fond smile lit his face. "It seems so long ago now! And you know what? Our teacher forgot about it in the end, and we never even handed the damn thing in!"

The life-guard sniggered. "Ms Strachen by any chance?" At Itachi's surprised look he laughed. "She was my tutor for three years, you kinda get used to her demanding projects and then forgetting about them."

There was a bell chime from the front of the bus, and Itachi glanced up to see that Pein had rung for the next stop. He turned his gaze back out of the window, but it really was too dark to tell where exactly in the city they were. The bus slowed and pulled over into a side street before gliding to a halt. Kisame clapped Itachi on the shoulder and stood up.

"Come on then, our stop!"

The Uchiha followed the rest of the group reluctantly. Once outside it was a little easier to identify his surroundings, and the large bulk of the Nottingham Ice Stadium loomed over his head. It was obvious enough where they needed to go, since a huge queue snaked its way around from the front doors right up along the pavement.

As it was, Pein directed them past the huge crowd of screaming people, and in through a less packed entrance that held a large sign proclaiming that it was for those who had already got their tickets. One by one the gang handed the slips of paper over and were let through the turnstile.

Inside, the building was just as busy and claustrophobic as people jostled and shoved their way around the place. Itachi had never been to the stadium before, and the sheer size of the place combined with the huge number of people made him stop dead and stare.

Thank God he had kept up the clotting supplements! Already enough bodies had pushed their way past him with enough force to leave bruises. A hand grabbed his arm and he shook himself out of the daze to see Deidara grinning widely at him.

"Come on! Let's get into the main arena!" The blonde had to shout to get himself heard, and the Uchiha just nodded in return, not bothering to attempt verbal communication. He let the artist drag him through the press of bodies to a stair-case, and then down into the actual stadium area. The skating rink had had the ice melted off so a stage could be set up at one end and already the rest of the area had filled with people. It took a lot of elbowing for the gang to bully their way over to a good spot.

Itachi wriggled his way into the centre of their group – as far away as possible from the press of strangers. He had read too many news articles on what went on in these places to let anyone he didn't know near him! Glancing around at the rest of the gang he realised two of the main members had vanished, and he tapped Hidan on the shoulder.

"What?"

"Where have Pein and Konan gone?" Itachi had to repeat himself a few times to be heard above the din.

Hidan grinned roguishly. "To get drinks of course!" He made a tipping motion with his hand and mimed downing a pint, so that although the Uchiha hadn't heard him the reply was still obvious.

Drinks, _brilliant_! Itachi wasn't so naive as to think that they wouldn't all start drinking - after all, he'd seen how much beer Pein got through at home - but he wasn't keen on the idea of everyone getting drunk in public. It also occurred to him that this type of thinking was very probably what his new group of friends would classify as 'prudish'.

Well that was just great!

A tap on his shoulder made him glance back to see Konan standing right behind him. _Well speak of the devil..._

"Here you go, a freebie to get you started. Dei said you don't drink much." She chirped, handing him a bottle of dark green glass with _Strongbow_ emblazoned on the side. Itachi accepted it like it was a primed hand-grenade.

"Um, thanks but I don't drink at all-" He began, but Konan just waved his words away.

"It's only cider so it'll hardly get you drunk. Lighten up a bit, it's not going to kill you!" She laughed, taking a healthy gulp of her own bottle, which stated _Smirnoff, triple distilled_ on the side.

Itachi frowned slightly. "Is that _vodka_?"

"Yeah, and?"

He shook his head in a little never-mind gesture and took a cautious sip from his own drink. It tasted very faintly like apple-juice, but to his teetotaller palate it basically appeared to be a bottle of flavoured antifreeze. He swallowed cautiously, and when it failed to cause him to dance stupidly or throw up he decided that it might be safe enough for him. He could just barely hear laughter over the insane racket and he turned to see Hidan smirking at him. The albino handed him a tiny shot glass of amber liquid with a go-on-try-it hand movement. Itachi didn't pay as much attention as he should have to the evil glint in Hidan's eyes as he took a sip of the new drink. He handed the glass back just before the burn hit the back of his throat and caused him to bend double coughing and retching. Hidan shrieked with laughter and clapped the prone Uchiha on the back.

"And _that_ is a man's drink!" He crowed.

Itachi coughed again, tears burning in his eyes as the back of his throat was scorched. "What _is_ that?" He gasped when it was possible to finally talk again.

"Brogan's Legacy Irish Single Malt." When the Uchiha looked bemused Hidan elaborated. "It's whisky."

There was more laughter and Itachi glanced over to find that the rest of them were watching him by this time. Even Deidara had cracked up, which he found rather unfair since the blonde was only drinking lager. Pein patted his shoulder sympathetically then downed a shot of the same molten fire Hidan was drinking with ease.

"You'll get used to it." He promised, although Itachi really didn't believe that he ever wanted to try the stuff again! Konan winked at the Uchiha and took another gulp of her vodka.

Itachi decided that cider was alright for him, but he doubted that he'd ever be able to down something stronger with such ease. Hidan had leant over to talk to him again, but as the albino opened his mouth to talk there was a sudden crashed chord that rang out across the audience. It was as if an electric spark had coursed through the crowd; they all turned as one body to the stage and began screaming.

If Itachi had thought it was loud before he'd had no idea! The band had stepped up onto the stage under blue flood lights with guitars in hand and they had set the whole arena screaming. There was a shriek in his ear – barely audible over the ruckus – and he glanced over his shoulder to see Konan screaming something in excitement, pointing at the group on stage. He looked back and squinted at the five figures that had got everyone so riled up. Truth be told he didn't recognise them or understand what they yelled out as a welcome that got the crowd whipped up into a frenzy, but he certainly _did_ recognise the light scattering of chords that rung out across the arena.

_Sleeping sun_.....

Deidara caught Itachi's eye in the brief moment that a spotlight flew over them and grinned. And the Uchiha remembered why he'd agreed to come along to this alien place: He _loved_ this band!

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It had been insane! Strobing lights, flashing colours and a veritable wall of sound all added to the crush of bodies as people had thrown themselves around and screamed along to the songs. Itachi had even found himself dancing and singing along like the others – a fact that surprised him, although it _did _seem to correlate with the warm fuzziness in his head; was cider really that alcoholic? Well, to his untrained metabolism it certainly was!

It was probably the envelope of alcohol that stopped him from protesting too much when Pein dragged them all towards a near-by bar. Deidara had been hanging off of Sasori's arm when they had made their way over to the building, but now bounded up to Itachi and forcibly pushed him inside.

The interior was very similar atmosphere-wise to the stadium they'd just left: dark, noisy and very _very_ crowded. However, it seemed that the gang were fairly well known there, since a group of people hurriedly offered up their table. Once again Konan bounded off to get drinks – this time dragging Sasori along to help carry them back. Itachi slunk into the darkest corner of the table and stared around at the room in awe.

The decor had obviously been modelled on the romantic idea of a vampire's castle, with a little bit of medieval-torture-chamber-charm added for good luck. Black carpet, blood red walls and black high-vaulted ceiling. And those were the boring bits. Deep burgundy velvet curtains hung from alcoves, accented by flaming torches and sconces and wherever a wall looked bare an implement of torture was proudly displayed. Itachi – having been one of those kids who had researched these things in all their gory detail – recognised racks, scavenger's daughters, thumbscrews, cat-o-nine-tails and even an iron maiden stood in a corner with the spikes being used as a coat rack.

He was shaken out of the awed stupor when Deidara nudged him.

"Cool huh?" The blonde grinned, gesturing around at the gothic wonderland. "Apparently one or two of the pieces are real, how amazing is that?!"

"They certainly give the place a certain atmosphere." The Uchiha said carefully. His friend laughed.

"Yeah, it took me by surprise the first time I came here, but you get used to it. And it's the only pub in this whole damn city that plays decent music!" He waved his hand towards the skull-shaped speaker that was blaring out _Paint it Black_. "They only play old rock and death metal stuff here, no new crap."

Itachi nodded – in that case it probably the only place in the city that would play music he'd _know_. His music knowledge seemed to stop in the eighties, with minor exceptions. He jumped when a glass was placed infront of him, and he looked up to see Konan grin.

"There you go; it's a JD and coke." She said, sitting down next to him and handing Deidara a shot glass of black viscous liquid. "And a Sambuca for you Blondie, although I should warn you; the others have started on the Absinthe." Deidara looked shocked and glanced at his friend to see what the Uchiha thought of that news. Itachi was frowning at his glass.

"Itachi, what's wrong?"

The Uchiha grinned weakly. "You two are going to have to translate all those names you just said." He explained apologetically.

Konan laughed. "Of course! I keep forgetting that you haven't been with us for long, it seems like I've known you forever!" She put down her own glass of what appeared to be brown cream. "Okay, JD stands for Jack Daniels – it's a Tennessee whiskey, but since it's with coke it's not going to kill you like that whisky did earlier." She stifled a giggle at the memory. "Dei's got Sambuca, which is aniseed liquor – and a rather acquired taste. The absinthe the others are all hitting is _evil_! I refuse to touch the stuff!" At Itachi's questioning look she sighed and went slightly red. "I'm a bit of a lightweight." She admitted. "And absinthe is Wormwood liquor. It's the strongest drinking alcohol known to man – that one they're on is 80% proof!"

Looking at the green stuff the other members of the gang were downing one-by-one, Itachi had to agree that it looked lethal. Turning his gaze back to Konan he gestured at her drink. "And what about you?"

"Bailey's." She chirped happily. "Irish cream liquor – best drink in the world." It seemed that on top of the beers earlier she was already somewhat tipsy, since as she said it – waving the glass around – some sloshed over the rim onto her black skirt. "Oh damn!" She began to scrub ineffectively at it with her coat sleeve.

"Here." Itachi closed his eyes and held his hand out in the direction of the bar. A moment later a bunch of napkins shot into his palm as if magnetically attracted. He handed them to Konan, who merely stared at him. "What?"

"That just seems so normal to you doesn't it?" Deidara stated lazily. "You still have no idea how cool it is to just summon something over like that!"

"Well you appear to be growing used to it!"

"I know, I must be spending too much time around you." The blonde grinned and downed his shot in one.

Konan stood up between them, newly acquired napkins in hand. "I'm just going to pop to the ladies then to clean this mess up." She said, and ruffled Itachi's hair, much to the Uchiha's annoyance. "Thanks 'Tachi." She clambered out of the maze of chairs and somewhat unsteadily made her way over to the toilets.

"She's going to break her ankle in those heels if she's not careful." Itachi muttered. Deidara laughed at the comment.

"Aw bless, you're such an old woman at times!" He draped an arm affectionately around his friend's shoulders and made a wide sweeping gesture with his shot glass. "All the women here wear heels Itachi, they've probably worn them most of their lives, they know how to walk in them when drunk."

The Uchiha shrugged. "I just hope she'll be careful, although I suppose Pein will look after if he's not unconscious." Glancing at their mostly-inebriated companions he lowered his voice so that only Deidara could hear him. "Dei, can I ask you what will probably seem to be a really stupid question?"

"Of course! It's my job to tutor you in the wide and wonderful ways of the world." Deidara said with a goofy grin. "What's the problem?"

"Those women over there keep staring at me."

"_Huh_?!" The blonde lifted his head to scout out the people Itachi meant and sure enough there was a group of giggling girls – probably school-girls – who were constantly sneaking peaks at the Uchiha. "Yeah, so?"

Itachi looked helpless. "_Why_ are they staring at me?"

...

"You're kidding, right?"

The Uchiha shook his head. Deidara stared at him unbelievingly. "Well...they find you attractive."

"Oh." Itachi wrinkled his nose in distaste, a rather comical expression on his usually suave features.

"Don't tell me this has never happened to you before." Deidara asked incredulously. "With your looks you can hardly be wanting for female attention!"

"I don't exactly _want_ the attention!" Itachi seemed almost horrified at the idea. "I've seen what happens to my little brother every time he steps outside the house, I don't want that!"

"But surely you've at least tried to attract a girl you fancy, or flirted." The blonde's intuitive senses told him he was grasping at straws.

Itachi's expression turned to one of disgust. "Why would I want to consort with such vapid and idiotic creatures as _them_?" He gestured over at the giggling group.

"Are you saying that you don't like girls?"

"No, after all Konan's a girl and I like _her. _ I'm just not attracted to them."

Deidara's eyes widened. "Itachi...are you _gay_?"

"_NO!!!_" Itachi looked alarmed that his friend had reached that conclusion. "I'm just not attracted to anyone, but definitely not _men_!"

"You now sound homophobic..." Deidara said quietly.

The Uchiha shook his head. "Not really, I just don't really understand...you know, homosexuality. My uncle was extremely homophobic and I suppose it's kind of rubbed off on me." He scratched the tip of his nose thoughtfully. "I guess I'm just not very open minded in those terms. If people want to get together with others of the same sex then I suppose it's their choice. I just find the whole idea rather...unpleasant. Icky. They freak me out. Childish of me maybe, but it's what I believe. I'm certainly not happy with the idea though. What's your view then?" He realised that there was a deep silence next to him. "...Deidara?"

The blonde had sunk right down in his chair – an almost visible black cloud over his head. Even to the socially retarded Itachi it was obvious that he'd said something very wrong. It took a few moments for him realise why his friend was suddenly so depressed.

"Dei...?" He asked softly. "Oh God, Dei, I'm so sorry, I hadn't realised."

Deidara shrugged ever-so-slightly. "Meh."

"Really, I'm so sorry." Itachi ground the palm of his hand into his forehead. "I feel like such a berk!" he groaned.

"It's not your fault." The blonde muttered – just on the threshold of hearing.

"It really kinda _is._"

"No, you were just brought up to have all the conversational tact and subtlety of a rampaging rhino. It's hardly your fault if some bloody stupid morals and dumb ideas were added into the mix."

The insult stung and Itachi glared at his friend, only to see Deidara's one visible eye glitter up at him with humour. It seemed that the blonde's sulk was more theatrics than true depression.

"Really, I am truly sorry, I must have offended you horribly."

Deidara pulled himself back up properly into his chair and waved a hand dismissively. "I get it all the time. It's just one of those things I've learnt to deal with." He raised a hand dramatically to his head. "Oh my life is so dreadful!"

Itachi cracked a small smile. "I feel terrible now though, I am so sor-"

"If I hear you apologise one more time I'm going to deck you one!" The blonde grinned at his friend. "Look, how's this for a compromise: You agree to be a little more open minded and accepting to new and-" he sniggered "-_icky_ ideas. I'm not asking for a miracle, just that you don't go all creeped out around me, and that we act like this conversation never happened. And in return..." He lent forwards with a wicked smirk. "I promise not to gay-butt-rape you. Deal?" He held out his hand.

Itachi had to laugh at the way Deidara had said the whole thing with a straight face. He shook the proffered hand. "Deal."

"Hey guys, what did I miss?" Konan reappeared, now with a damp patch on her skirt where she'd washed out the spillage.

"Just me trying to introduce Itachi to the meaning of life." Deidara said with cheeky grin.

"Ah, that would be 42."

Itachi laughed. "And here I am, brain the size of a planet..." He said with dramatic woefulness. Konan giggled and Deidara looked between them cluelessly.

"I don't get it..."

The Uchiha sighed. "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, it's a comedy classic!" At the continued blank look from his friend he tried to expand. "It was a radio show, a few films...you must have heard of Douglas Adams!"

Deidara shook his head with a cheerful grin, leaning over to steal a sip from Itachi's drink. "What can I say, I'm uncultured!" He said it like it was a fact he was proud of. Konan rolled her eyes.

A bell rang at the bar, making the three of them look up, although the rest of the gang were too drunk to notice it.

"What's that mean?" Itachi asked.

"Last orders, they're closing the bar now." Konan replied. She glanced at her nearly-empty glass, the debate clear on her face as she weighed the pros and cons of getting another drink. In the end she just shrugged and downed what was left of her original one. "Come on, let's get out of here – we still need to somehow get that lot home." She indicated to the snoozing group of guys at the other end of the table.

Itachi and Deidara looked at them too, unsure at how they were to accomplish such a task. It looked like Sasori was unconscious!

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In the end it had been relatively simple; they'd shaken Kakuzu – the largest of the group – awake, since none of them would have been able to move him. Itachi had half-supported Hidan, who was singing drunkenly about a little goblin, Deidara dealt with Sasori and Konan supported her brother whilst Kakuzu staggered around in little circles with Kisame hanging off him.

It took forever to bundle the drunken group onto the bus – which was thankfully empty since it was half two in the morning – but once in the bus the five simply fell asleep again. The ride home was somewhat serene after that.

At the village Konan and Kakuzu took charge of the way-ward gang and managed to get them off the bus – with much help from the kindly driver – and waved bye to Itachi and Deidara. The two friends left at the next stop and began walking back up the hill towards Itachi's house where Deidara had abandoned his car all those hours earlier.

"Full moon tonight." The blonde stated, looking skywards.

"Well observed." Itachi was still feeling the pleasant affects of the alcohol, and giggled rather childishly.

"Yes, but isn't a full moon magical or something? That's what all the fairy-stories say!"

"You believe in fairy-stories?" The Uchiha asked with a snigger in his voice. However, when Deidara pouted at him he sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine then, I do know one trick, give me your hands." He held out his own.

Deidara grinned and did as he was asked. Itachi took his hands and looked up at the full moon.

"Okay, I hope this will work, It' supposed to be done in candle-light, but moonlight should suffice." He said, somewhat distractedly. "Alright then..." He began humming quietly under his breath to get the tune right and then started to chant softly. To Deidara it just sounded rather pleasant, but it was actually ancient Latin sung in the Gregorian sect.

Then there was a spark, so brief that it appeared to be a flicker from a street lamp. Then another followed it, leaping up from their joined hands.

"Oh...." Deidara breathed in delight as a fountain of silver stars erupted between them, shining and glittering as they flowed over onto the pavement and died. He looked up at Itachi, his blue eyes silver in the light and aglow with the enchantment and the beauty. "How are you doing that?"

"It's a simple enough trick." Itachi replied with a smile. As he stopped chanting the fountain slowly dissipated and died away until only a few sparkles remained dancing on their hands. Deidara raised his hand up to his face and stared at the final glimmer on his fingers as it finally faded away.

"That is _amazing_!" He grinned at his friend. "You never cease to amaze me. How did you do that?"

"I don't know the technicalities, but when I do it by candle-light the fountain's gold, so it's obviously affected by the light source. I'll teach you how to do it at some-point, just remind me."

Deidara grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

They made their way on up the hill, Itachi walking with a bit more of a bounce in his step, and Deidara practically skipping. It was only when they were half-way there that something appeared to go wrong.

The blonde slowed down, a look of uncertainty crossing his face. Itachi – in his partly inebriated state – found the expression hilarious and began laughing.

"What's wrong now?" He asked with a cheerful grin. However the smile faded when Deidara turned to face him. The blonde had paled enough to rival Hidan, and it was obvious that he was now stone-cold sober.

"Can...can you hear that?" He asked quietly.

"Hear what?" Itachi looked around the deserted street, but there was nothing visible or audible. He stared at his friend again; well aware that Deidara could pick up on things that he couldn't. "What is it?"

Deidara turned his head this way and that, straining to catch the sound again. "It's like someone is screaming." He whispered. "It's getting louder too, like it's coming closer."

"I still can't hear anything."

The blonde clamped his hand over his ears. "It's like it's in my head!"

Itachi felt completely lost. "Where's it coming from?"

"I don't know, somewhere up the hill."

The Uchiha had no doubt that this was one of the cases where Deidara's unique talents were being exploited. He personally couldn't hear a thing, but his friend appeared to be nearly deafened by the phantom noise, and he knew not to ignore such a sign. "Come on then!" He grabbed Deidara's sleeve and began dragging the blonde. "See if you can pin-point the location, someone may be in trouble."

Deidara merely nodded, allowing himself to be pulled up the path as the bodiless voice continued to howl in his ears. As they drew level with the top of the hill and Itachi's street came into view he stopped dead.

"Oh God..."

"What?"

"It's coming from your house." He whispered. "Anger, fear, pain... So much pain."

Itachi felt his heart stop at Deidara's words as a memory flooded his mind: _his parents were out for the night, so Sasuke had leapt at the chance to throw a house party._..

Fear gripped him as he began to feel that tell-tale prickling across the back of his neck whenever he was around a strong psychic energy.

"Oh hell, Sasuke..."

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_*Scratches back of head in embarrassment* Okay. So I meant to update before Christmas, I really did. But then my internet went screwy, and I had huge huge HUGE amounts of revision and......yeah._

_So anyways. The second chapter is already being written and will be up within the next fortnight (really!)._

_And another thing – the places mentioned here do actually exist. They really do melt the ice off the rink to make the concert arena, and the bar is called the Pit and Pendulum and is AMAZING!!! (best cocktails ever)_

_So mucho love to you all, and big hugs go to my ever-so-darling Manu for betaing this bugger, and to my little Squid for being a hormonal, stressed-out-by-coursework-and-boyfriends little sister ^_^ (and she's now going to kill me for announcing her problems to the world...)_

_Xoxoxoxox_


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the lack of updates – as a second year biochemist my time is rather stretched. I love writing this story, and I have another three or four sequels planed after this that I'm immensely excited about, so I'm not going to stop writing anytime soon, I'll just be slow I'm afraid.**

**So again, sorry this has taken so so long! Many huge thanks and hugs and love to my most awesome beta-reader Manu-seme, whom I love beyond belief for putting up with my ridiculous mistakes and errors in this *glomp!* I'm dedicating this chapter to ****tcmedicala for such a lovely review, which inspired me to get my butt in gear. I would have replied to you personally on , but you don't appear to have an account.**

**So here it is at long last: chapter 2, ENJOY!!!!!!**

**Xox**

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_Fear gripped him as he began to feel that tell-tale prickling across the back of his neck whenever he was around a strong psychic energy._

"_Oh hell, Sasuke..."_

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They ran the last few yards at a sprint. There was the briefest pause as Itachi fumbled with his house key and then they were pounding up the stairs – all rules about taking shoes off first forgotten – and racing across the landing to Sasuke's room.

Itachi threw the door open without bothering to knock first and a blue glow flooded across the carpet at their feet. Deidara hung back, now afraid of what they'd find, as a disembodied voice started screaming in his head This was beyond anything inside his realm of experience, and although he knew that one day he'd have to face this stuff, he hadn't expected that the day to be so _soon_.

On the other hand, Itachi had been used to dealing with other-worldly creatures and such like from his old days in Japan, so he thought nothing about running straight in to face whatever the hell was going on.

But even he hadn't expected this...

The kids were sitting in a circle on the floor of Sasuke's room, the lights off and spilt party food ignored where it lay on the carpet. There were about eight of them, all from Sasuke's class or year group and every single sixteen year old was staring upwards at the entity in the middle of the room, so transfixed that they didn't even notice Itachi to begin with

Even the older Uchiha had to pause when he saw what was going on. He swept his gaze across the room, picking up on the abandoned shot glasses on top of a circular board in the centre of the circle of kids. He didn't need to examine it closer to know that it was surrounded by the letters of the alphabet. Ouija board.

_Damn it_!!!

Well, that explained why there was a blue shape in the centre of the room, hovering about five feet off the ground and the epicentre for the glow that dimly lit the room. It looked like a floating hooded cloak, such as a monk would wear, the long draped sleeves out-stretched as it loomed over the frightened teens. When the door opened it turned to face Itachi, the non-existent eyes glaring. The movement caused one of the girls to squeal and start sobbing; some of the others were already crying.

As the entity stared at him Itachi froze, not blinking and barely breathing. He knew how to deal with this sort of thing and the first step was to treat it like a scared animal, i.e. : _don't make any sudden movements_! Once he had its full attention he very slowly began to raise his right arm, hand outstretched. There was a tiny sound in his ears and – realising that Deidara was behind him – he gestured behind his back for the blonde to remain out of the way.

The spirit twisted slightly in the air, curiosity surrounding it as Itachi met its gaze levelly.

"What's your name?" The Uchiha's voice was very calm and low, as if he was talking to a frightened horse. The cloak rippled and the hood cocked to one side in question, but there was no answer forthcoming. "Can you give me your name?" Itachi repeated it with slightly more authority.

"I don't think it understands you." Deidara whispered when there was again no reply. He was staring at the entity in awe as it floated in front of him silently. The hood turned towards him as if an invisible face inside was guiding it, and it felt as if the thing was surveying him.

"No I don't think it does, but is it still screaming?" Itachi asked, still quietly.

The blonde and spirit stared at each other. "No, it's...curious now, silent and curious. We aren't afraid of it and it doesn't get that." His eyes were wide and shone in the reflected glow. The Uchiha glanced out of the corner of his eye at the artist when he heard the awe and fascination in Deidara's voice. "What _is_ it, Itachi?"

"It's some sort of spirit, possibly a minor demon, I'm not sure yet." Itachi turned his attention back to the entity. "Now if only I could communicate with it."

"Maybe if it's a spirit then it's too old to understand English?" Deidara queried. "Can you speak anything else?"

Itachi nodded slowly. "I can try Latin..." He thought for a moment and then rattled off a sentence in a completely alien language. All Deidara could determine was that it was phrased like a question. However, in response the entity straightened up, now radiating alertness.

"Well that seems to have worked..." Deidara said slowly, "What did you say?"

"I just asked if it could understand me now."

The younger kids cowered back as the blue spectre spread its arms and one of the girls screamed. Deidara gave a sudden sharp gasp as the voice he'd heard earlier made a reappearance in his head. He shivered and closed his eyes .

Itachi noticed his friend's discomfort and reached out to steady the blonde. "Dei, what is it? What's it saying?"

Deidara shook his head. "There are no words, it's just feelings." He clenched his fist then let his fingers slowly uncurl, not noticing the nail imprints now on his palm. "So much emotion. It's so lost, and confused. It has no idea where it is or what's happening. Can't we help it?"

"I can try to banish it, but if it's a strong entity then..." Itachi trailed off when he realised that Deidara wasn't listening.

The blonde was still staring at the floating form, an entranced expression lighting his face. "So lost..." He reached out slowly towards the spectre.

"Deidara! Don't!" Itachi leapt forwards to grab his friend's arm, but the blonde's sleeve slipped through his grasp.

Even with his friend's warning ringing in his ear the artist's fingers brushed the edge of the entity's cloak. For just a second there was a point of clarity; a moment in which he almost thought he could understand the being in front of him. Then...

"OW!" Deidara let out a yelp of pain; his finger tips blistering as if he'd thrust his hand into a fire. He snatched the limb back, cradling it to his chest and staring wide-eyed at the spirit in shock.

Itachi didn't bother to check his friend – he knew that the injury was only superficial and served Deidara right for being careless – instead he continued to watch the entity warily. Like the blonde, it had reacted to the touch; its cloak rippling and folding in on itself as if it were twisting to and fro. Then, in the blank space where its head should have been, two large gimlets of light began to wink into existence.

"Ahh...." A breath escaped from its invisible mouth in a long sigh. "Vox vocis..." It whispered. The sound chilled them; it was speaking in Deidara's tones.

"A voice..." Itachi's translation was just as quiet as the hood turned to face him. There was a breathy echoing quality to the sound the creature was producing, but to all intents and purposes it sounded like Deidara. "It has absorbed the knowledge from you Dei." The Uchiha continued quietly. "Anything you know, it knows. I _told_ you not to touch it!"

"S-sorry." The blonde was still clutching his wounded hand, nursing his burnt fingers. As he spoke the entity's gaze turned to fall on him, and he took a step back – now afraid of what he'd done.

"Vestri lingua..." The creature murmured. An air of intense concentration surrounded it before it spoke again. "Your language..."

"My...what? H-hey! That's English!" Deidara's startled shout made Itachi wince. "You're speaking _English_!"

Deciding that his friend had done enough damage already, the Uchiha pushed Deidara backwards and out of the way. "Okay, since you've worked out communication now, listen well to this." He ordered, glaring up at the spectre. "Leave. NOW!"

"Leave?" The single word escaped as a whispered laugh, an odd sound when it came in Deidara's voice. The large eyes roved around the room, taking in the terrified teens and then the two adults standing defiantly before it. "Leave? Oh but how can I now?! The sights, the sounds! I am free and you have given me the knowledge of the world! Who could possibly want to _leave_?" It rose up higher into the air, nearly touching the ceiling. "I can see the freedom I have not had in so long. And you ask me to leave?"

"This is not your world!"

"And yet I was invited here." It tilted its head to one side in a cute gesture of mock confusion. "Don't make the mistake of assuming that I'm going to listen to you."

"I will force you to leave if I have to." Itachi said coldly.

Mocking laughter in Deidara's voice filled the room. "_You_? My dear mortal, to do that, you would need to be able to catch me first."

Itachi had already begun flashing his hands through a series of swift signs and at that challenge he spat out the invocation.

"Tu atta zha!"

There was a bright flash as the entity folded up on itself and seemed to implode. As it did so the eyes crinkled as if it were grinning, leaving just an echo of laughter behind itself once it vanished.

A stunned silence followed, that felt like it lasted a life time. Deidara stared at his friend in awe, still too shocked to even release the breath he'd been holding. It felt like his heart was going at a million miles per hour – ready to burst from his chest – and yet the Uchiha was as calm and collected as ever. It seemed that infinity had passed them by before he finally let out a shaky sigh. The tiny exhalation was enough noise to stir the others, and one by one the kids shook themselves out of their horror-frozen states. A girl began to sniffle again, and one of the boys was shivering so violently that his teeth were chattering quite audibly.

Itachi looked around at them all, silently making sure that none were actually physically harmed. His gaze fell on Sasuke, who flushed angrily and looked away, knowing that he was at fault.

"Otouto." The elder Uchiha said, his voice laced with quiet irritation.

"Don't call me that! This is England, not Japan!" Sasuke spat angrily.

Itachi's eyes flared – almost literally. "Fine then! English it is!" He stormed forwards and pulled his little brother up onto his feet by his shirt collar. "You _know_ what I said about Ouija boards, what with your –"

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke yelled, struggling to release the grip Itachi had on his shirt. "I don't need _you_ to lecture me on crazy shit like this!"

"You just summoned up a demon, Sasuke! Are you _stupid_?" The older Uchiha wasn't shouting, but his tone of voice contained enough acid to spit lace-work in a sheet of steel. "I've told you _so_ many times not to mess around with things like this. You could get hurt!"

"Oh and since when has _that_ ever bothered you?" Sasuke snarled back. "Stop pretending that you care, Itachi! That thing was hardly _my_ fault; if you weren't always pissing around with all that weird shit, these things wouldn't happen!"

Itachi's grip on his brother's shirt tightened to the extent that the boy was standing on tip-toe to keep from strangulation. "Listen Sasuke; I had _nothing_ to do with that entity, that was _you_ messing around with things that you don't understand. I have warned you time and again that you can't take these things lightly, you have the same abilities I have, so-"

"_Don't you dare compare me with you_!" Sasuke twisted himself free from his brother's grip. "I'm not a _freak_ like you! I am a normal person, and I can do what I want! If I want to do an Ouija board with my friends then I shouldn't have to worry about this sort of crap!" He gestured around at his friends. "My mates are probably never going to want to come round again thanks to this. Unlike you, Itachi, I have a reputation as a popular person to uphold, and I don't want _your_ influence ruining it!"

"Don't be such an arrogant idiot!" Itachi was trying to hold in his temper, but cracks were showing as his voice rose. "You know damn well that you can't do things like an Ouija board, it's too _dangerous_ for you! It took me _years _before I could control what sort of creature I called up."

"_Stop pretending that you care_!" Sasuke shrieked.

"I'm your _brother_ Sasuke!"

"Well I wish you weren't!" The teen glared daggers up at the elder Uchiha. "Just go away bastard, get out of my room!"

Itachi stiffened slightly, his fist clenching for a moment as if he wanted to hit the younger teen. Then without another word he turned and stalked out of the room – leaving a furious brother and tearful group of kids behind him. Deidara hurried after his friend, hearing Sasuke slam the door behind them both as he followed Itachi back down the hallway.

Once they were in Itachi's room the blonde let out a low sigh.

"Well, that was different." He stated quietly. Itachi turned to look at him - pale and tight lipped – a cold expression hardening his face. For just a moment the blonde wondered if he'd seen the glimmer of tears in the onyx eyes.

"Tell me Deidara, are you always that stupid?"

"What?!"

The artist was taken aback by the bluntness and rudeness of the question. He stared dumbly as Itachi elaborated.

"There was an unknown entity in a room full of terrified children, we were unable to communicate with it properly and the first thing you do is _touch_ it!"

Deidara flushed red. "Yeah, that was a little dumb of me I guess..." He offered with a weak smile.

"Dumb? Dumb doesn't even _cover _it!" Itachi looked furious, much more so than when he'd been arguing with Sasuke. "Do you have any _idea_ what you've just done?!"

"N-not in so many words..." The blonde found himself stuttering in the face of his friends rage.

The Uchiha shook his head. "Oh course not, because you didn't _listen_ to me! And now thanks to you there is a spirit of some kind out _there-_" He gestured towards the window. "- equipped with everything it needs to know about this world directly copied from your head! Although just how much useful information there is in your head is now debatable."

Deidara scowled, hurt by that slur on his intelligence. "How was I supposed to know that that would happen? And anyway, you said you could banish it!"

"Yes, _before_ you gave it any smart ideas about how to evade the incantation."

"But I wasn't responsible for that! I don't know _how_ to evade anything, how could I have told it something that isn't even in my head?" The blonde wailed.

Itachi snarled in infuriation. "Are you even _listening_ to me? It took the information from your mind, even things you only know subconsciously. And now it's out there doing God-only-knows-what, and all thanks to you and my stupid brother. A huge problem caused by two naive fools!"

Deidara's eyes narrowed. "Naive fool? That's all you think of me?"

"I had thought better of you, I'll say that much. I'm reconsidering my offer to teach you, if you're going to do such ridiculous things." Itachi replied coldly.

The blonde took in a sharp breath, stepping backwards from his friend. Anger at the unfairness of the statement hit him hard, and he felt his own temper rise.

"Well fine, be that way! I'm sorry I messed up and I was going to offer to help track the thing down, but since you obviously don't want me here I'll be on my way!" Deidara turned on his heel and stormed from the room with his nose in the air. "I'm going to go offer a lift to some of those kids, I think they probably want to go home."

"Whatever." Itachi turned his back on his friend, moving over to his desk and switching on his laptop as if nothing had happened. It took a few moments for his machine to rev up, and by the time it had he could hear Deidara outside with a group of Sasuke's friends. He didn't get up to look out of the window as the car drove away – what was there to see? – and instead began to run through his computer files to find all he had on demons. At the back of his mind a niggling feeling told him that he shouldn't have taken out his frustration and anger on his friend, but he shoved it away. The pain at what Sasuke had said was still too raw for him to give much of a damn about Deidara's feelings right now.

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It was his Mother opening his curtains that made Itachi finally wake up. He rolled over with a groan, pulling his arm over his face to shield his eyes from the sudden light.

"Mum...What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Mikoto echoed. "Itachi, it's ten o-clock in the morning sweetheart. I know it's the weekend but even so...you're usually up by seven!"

"Ten...?" Itachi blearily stared at his alarm clock then back at his mother, who folded her arms.

"Now, what happened last night?"

Her son groaned again. "Last night?"

"Don't play dumb with me young man, I know you went out somewhere." Mikoto tapped her foot on the carpet. "I've already gotten Sasuke to admit he had some friends over, so what were _you_ up to?"

Itachi pulled himself up to a sitting position, rubbing his eyes. "Okay, okay, I went out into town. Some friends and I went to a concert."

His mother's stern frown melted into a delighted smile. "About time too! You never go out enough, Itachi." She sat down on the edge of the futon. "So, how was it?"

"Uh, fine, I guess." Itachi still wasn't used to having a social life, so had never had his mother interrogate him about it before. "We went to see Nightwish at the arena and then went on to a pub."

"And...?" At Itachi's blank stare Mikoto giggled. "Oh come on honey, did you meet any girls?"

"Girls? No, none. Should I have?"

His mother sighed. "You're still so naive sometimes Itachi...I worry about you; I don't want you to grow up lonely." She ruffled her son's hair and he tried to duck away.

"Mum!" He pushed her away with a small chuckle. "Look I've got friends at last, just be glad of that for now."

Mikoto smiled at him fondly. "If you say so dear." She stood up again. "Now if you get downstairs there's a tea in the pot." She vacated the room, leaving her son to debate whether or not a cup of tea was worth getting up for.

He sat there for some time, his sleepy brain still pondering the decision. After a while something else began to niggle at his memory. The minor headache that was knocking on the back of his eyeballs made it difficult to concentrate on what else had happened last night. It was only when he heard heavy footfalls outside stomping downstairs announcing Sasuke's moody awakening that he suddenly recalled the previous events.

"Oh hell..." He groaned and buried his head in his hands. Had he really said all that to Deidara?

Crap.

So that was why he had that horrible wriggling worm of guilt in his stomach.

Deciding that he could skip the tea, Itachi reached over for his phone instead. The instinctive reaction was to call his friend and apologise, but even with his limited social experience he knew that the conversation would go better if face to face. That then gave rise to the issue that he didn't know where his friend lived. Sure, he knew the area, but not the house number or street.

Running down his call register, a name caught his eye that would help the predicament. Hitting the green button he held the mobile up to his ear, waiting for the person to pick up. It took five rings before they did, and Itachi was on the verge of terminating the call to try someone else.

"_Itachi? Hi, what's up?"_

"Hey Sasori." Itachi was pleased that his guess was right – the red-head did still wake up early even at the weekends. "Weird question, but can you give me Deidara's address please?"

"_Sure, although I must admit I thought you already had it."_ Sasori sounded somewhat amused, but gave the address. "_Why do you need to see him anyway?" _He added.

Even though the red-head couldn't see him, Itachi flushed scarlet. "We had a bit of a fall out last night, I lost my temper and yelled at him, I need to apologise."

"_You could just call him._"

"It was a _big_ argument. I think apologising face to face might be better."

"_Ah."_ Sasori sounded far more amused than he should. "_Trouble in paradise_?"

Itachi wasn't so socially uncultured as to not understand what the red-head meant. "I hardly think so!"

"_Whatever you say Uchiha, whatever you say._" Sasori hung up, leaving Itachi with the address hastily scribbled down, and an intense desire to wipe the smirk out of the red-head's voice.

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Itachi looked down at the address he'd written on the back of his hand – a habit he'd never been able to throw – and then up at the house again. Well, it seemed to be the right place. He bit back the unaccustomed feeling of anxiety in his stomach and walked up to ring the doorbell before he lost his nerve.

It took a few minutes before the door was opened by Deidara's father, whom Itachi remembered from his trip back from hospital. The man frowned for a brief moment then a grin lit his face in recognition.

"Hey there, you're Deidara's friend aren't you?" His tone was easy-going, although Itachi had a hard time following the lilting accent.

"Yes, we've met before on the bus. My name is Itachi-"

"Of course, of course! Come on in!"

Itachi did as he was requested with a polite bow of his head as the man called up the stairs. "Oi, Dali, your friend's here to see you!" Then he turned back to the guest. "Dei's always talking about you, you've made a real impression on him."

Itachi nodded, unsure of what to say in reply. He wasn't used to such familiarity coming from an adult he'd never met before, and the man's curious accent was still grating. As it was Deidara came to his rescue, thundering down the stairs in his usual haphazard way. His infectious grin faltered ever so slightly when he saw that it was Itachi.

"There you are." His father said fondly. "Now you two run along and have fun, or whatever you teens do, I've got a match to watch." There was a cheer from the adjacent room that sounded like it came from the television, and the man's face fell comically. "Damn! I missed a try!" He ran back into the room. "There's pizza in the fridge if you two get hungry Dali." He called over his shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks Dad." Deidara turned to his friend who was looking at him strangely. "What?"

"Dali?"

"After Salvador Dali the artist."

"Oh." Itachi nodded slightly in understanding. When Deidara didn't say anything else he tried to fill the gap. "Can we talk?"

"We are talking." The blonde replied.

"Well obviously! I meant, 'can we talk about last night'?" The Uchiha resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He'd known this wouldn't be easy, but _still_!

Deidara stared at him for just a few moments longer than was comfortable, chewing on his lower lip, before inclining his head very slightly. "I suppose it would probably be a good idea to talk." He conceded. He inclined his head towards the stairs. "Come on up, it's probably best to stay out of my Dad's way at the moment; the rugby's on and if his team loses he'll sulk all day." He began leading the way up the staircase.

Itachi knew little to nothing about rugby, but attempted to keep the conversation going. "Who does he support?"

"Wales of course. Didn't you see the jersey he was wearing?" Deidara let a smile creep into his voice as he said that.

"Wales? So it's the world cup then?" The Uchiha was flying blind on scraps he knew about football. He figured that if a country was playing that it was generally an international event. He heard his friend snigger.

"Nah, that's not until next year. This is just the six nations." Even with his back to the Uchiha, Deidara held up his hand to fore-stall the upcoming question. "And I'm not explaining that to you now. Just be content in the knowledge that if Wales lose – which they shouldn't – Dad will sulk."

Itachi took the hint that it wasn't the best time to question about some esoteric sport. "Why does he support Wales, not England?" He held his hands up in surrender as Deidara sent an exasperated glare his way. "Last question, honest!"

"His parents are Welsh."

Well, that explained the accent. Itachi silently followed his friend the rest of the way up the stairs, his mind now going back to the task in hand and planning out just what he should say to apologise. They walked out onto the tiny landing and Deidara silently indicated towards a closed door.

The Uchiha sniggered quietly and his friend flushed; seven wooden letters spelt out Deidara's name in cheery – if somewhat faded – colours. Hung underneath, however, was a much more recent addition.

" 'Warning, biohazard'?" Itachi asked in amusement, his eyes flickering from the large yellow and black deterrent symbol to his friend.

"Christmas present." Deidara grunted, pushing open the door in an attempt to hide the source of embarrassment. The room revealed to the Uchiha as he was ushered inside was more or less what he was expecting:

A bombsite.

Okay, so it wasn't exactly _dirty_ per se, just very disorganised. Clothes were heaped on the foot of the unmade bed, art materials scattered across every available surface and the curtains weren't properly drawn; lending a gloomy light to the room. Only the tiny area of desk where Deidara's battered laptop sat was there an inch of clear space. Itachi didn't comment on the mess, although his obsessively tidy mind rebelled against it, and he let his attention get caught by the posters and paintings plastering the walls and – looking up – the ceiling.

It was possibly the clearest insight into Deidara's mind that he'd ever had. Planes and birds stared at him from every available flat surface; Some were large RAF posters of fighter jets and old war planes, others were delicate watercolours of tropical parrots and birds of prey. Mixed in amongst the jumble of airborne paraphernalia were movie posters from the Star Wars trilogy, and taking up the whole back of the door a poster of Thunderbird 1 – which Itachi only recognised thanks to Sasuke going through a phase of liking the quaint TV series. The ceiling itself, at least those parts not covered in paper, was almost groaning under the combined weight of one of the largest collections of AirFix models the Uchiha had ever seen – and considering John's collection back in Japan, that was saying something! More planes and jets hung from slender strings in a never ending battle for the skies. Their unlikely brothers-in-arms comprised of futuristic designs that he had to assume were from Starwars and StarTrek, although once again a few childish Thunderbirds twisted gently on their strings.

One thing was incredibly clear though – Deidara was obsessed with anything that flew, be it man-made or natural. The Uchiha turned to his friend, still taken-aback by the sheer size of the collection.

"You're missing Thunderbird Four." Was all he could think of to say, glancing back up at the dog-fight above their heads.

"It's a submarine, it would hardly go with the theme." Deidara said with a small grin. He stretched his arms above his head with a yawn, his hand brushing a Lancaster Bomber in the process and sending it oscillating wildly on its thread. "So, what did you want?" He steadied the little plane, but his gaze remained focused on his friend's face.

Itachi had actually almost forgotten about the reason he'd come in the first place, but the question brought back all the worry and nerves he'd been feeling on the journey over. In an uncharacteristic display of embarrassment he found that he was playing with his watch strap rather than meeting the blonde's gaze. He wasn't used to losing his cool like this – since apologising didn't come naturally to an Uchiha – and this needed to be got out of the way as soon as possible.

"Look, about last night..." He began, inwardly wincing at how lame that sounded.

"Ah, yeah." Deidara's odd tone of voice made Itachi look up and he was surprised to see that the blonde looked as embarrassed as he felt. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, you were right; I was a prize moron. I should have known better than to start poking demons." He offered a shy grin. "Can I blame it on the alcohol?"

"Wha...?" Itachi stared at him in incredulity. "No! No, I came here because _I _need to apologise!"

They stared at each other in an impasse.

"Huh?" Deidara scratched the back of his head in confusion. "I don't get it, what did you do?"

"Don't tell me you don't remember!" Itachi asked in disbelief. "I went ballistic at you for no reason."

The blonde waved the comment away. "Oh, that? Nah, I deserved that. And besides, you were obviously really upset about what had just happened with that emo idiot known as your brother. You needed to vent."

Itachi shook his head in frustration. "That was hardly an excuse for me to blame you like I did. I came out with some very hurtful things, and I need to apologise for them. Will you forgive me?"

Deidara raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Sometimes you talk like we're still in the seventeenth century!" He laughed. "Of course I'll 'forgive you'. It was all just a load of crap said when we were tired, scared, you were upset and I was still semi-drunk."

"But..."

"Oh quit it with the 'buts'." The blonde said with a lazy grin. "We were both dumb, and you've said you're sorry, so lets forget it, okay?" He rubbed his hands together. "Now, how do we go about putting _my_ mistake right? There's a demon out there and I can't wait to go and find it!"

Itachi stared at him blankly. Of all the reactions he was expecting, Deidara had once again managed to completely throw him. The blonde genuinely didn't seem to give a damn about the argument and was practically jumping up and down on the spot at the idea of hunting down the elusive demon.

"Uh, well...I guess we could start with having a look at the police reports and seeing if anything's happened in the area over the past six hours or so." He began lamely. "It's bound to have caused some mischief by now."

"Great!" Deidara had begun rummaging through the pile of clothes at the bottom of his bed, but then paused to look at Itachi over his shoulder. "How do we get hold of police reports?"

The Uchiha allowed a small smirk to creep onto his face. "I've been hacking in to my dad's laptop since I was about eleven years old. Since he's chief of police he has it all on there."

The blonde's eyes lit up at the idea of hacking in to the police mainframe, and he quickly pulled on the fleece he'd found under the heap of clothes. "Should I call the others?" At Itachi's surprised look he rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, you know they're all fascinated by this. And besides, we'll need to cover a lot of ground, more people means we can search the village in half the time."

Nodding thoughtfully the Uchiha could see the logic in that – providing that the gang weren't _too_ hung over from the previous night. "Sure, they probably know this place better than we do anyway." He said, noting that Deidara had already pulled his phone out in confidence that his answer would have been a yes. "As long as-"

A low buzzing emanated from his trouser pocket, making him jump, and Deidara giggled at his reaction. Pulling out his own mobile he glanced at the caller-ID before sliding the top half up and answering tersely.

"What do you want Sasuke?"

"_I want you to get over here _right now_, ass-hole!"_ Sasuke was shouting so loudly that Itachi had to hold the hand-set away from his ear, and Deidara was able to hear the words clearly from where he stood a few meters away.

"Why should I do that?" The older Uchiha snapped, evidently still furious with his younger sibling for the previous night's events.

"_You know damn well, now get over here and sort out whatever the hell you did to Naruto!"_

Naruto.....

Itachi's expression morphed from anger, through confusion and into dawning comprehension. "Okay, where are you?"

"_Market square. And if you don't sort this out I swear I'm gonna beat seven kinds of hell out of you, you self-righteous bas-" _

The elder Uchiha flicked the top of his phone back down, turning it off in the middle of Sasuke's rant.

"Well," He turned to Deidara. "Call the guys and tell them to meet us at the square, it sounds like we already know where our demon is."

Deidara grinned and mock-saluted. "Sir, yes sir!"

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**Hey, whadda you know, I've finally finished another chapter :D**

**I'm sorry this took so long, but as I said; I do have a life outside fanfictions, and right now that life is kinda hectic. Things should speed up a little now, since it's nearly the holidays. Tell you what, I'll try to have another chapter out at least before Easter :D (hey, it's not that far away now, don't glare at me like that!)**

**Love you all, and thanks for sticking with it and being so patient!**

**xoxoxoxooxooxoxoxooxoox**


	3. Chapter 3

**If you want to see what is meant by the Buttercross, have a butchers here: ****http: // www .bingham-watch .com/bingham .html**** without the spaces.**

**Also, I realise that this has taken me a long time to get done, but to be fair I'm a second year biochemist and that means that time is not something I have a lot of. But the inspiration for this fic is now sleeting hard and fast so hopefully the next chapter will take less time ^_^**

**I own nada, of course.**

**Oh, and there's a cameo from another team of ghost hunters made at the end of this chapter. I couldn't resist!**

**Love and hugs to everyone who's sticking with this so far!!!!!! And massive thanks to Manu once again – love you darling!!!!!!**

"_You know damn well, now get over here and sort out what ever the hell you did to Naruto!"_

_Naruto....._

_Itachi's expression morphed from anger, through confusion and into dawning comprehension. "Okay, where are you?"_

"_Market square. And if you don't sort this out I swear I'm gonna beat seven kinds of hell out of you, you self-righteous bas-"_

_The elder Uchiha flicked the top of his phone back down, turning it off in the middle of Sasuke's rant._

"_Well," he turned to Deidara. "Call the guys and tell them to meet us at the square, it sounds like we already know where our demon is."_

_Deidara grinned and mock-saluted. "Sir, yes sir!"_

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMMWMWMWMMWMWMWMWMMWMWMMWMWMWMMWMW

For once it wasn't raining, and although it could hardly be called sunny, there was enough of a break in the clouds for the two friends to risk walking into the town centre without an umbrella. However, it was still cold enough to get Deidara complaining, and by the time they reached the arranged meeting place he happily disappeared inside the nearest cafe to grab a steaming cup of tea.

Itachi waited in the centre of the market, trying to keep out of the wind by standing under the stone pavilion that was the focal point of the square. It was a quaint old Victorian structure, and had earned itself the name 'Buttercross' due to its history as a place where women sold their butter in the 1800's. Not that Itachi gave a damn about that. Hell, he'd talked to one of the women himself and it was hardly anything interesting, she'd just moaned on about the fact that she had died of cholera and not consumption. The Uchiha couldn't see why it would matter, since she was just as dead either way, but apparently it made all the difference, since only commoners died of cholera and she was enough of a snob to believe that her manner of death put on her the same level as the working class. If she was dumb enough – in Itachi's opinion – to stick the privy right next to the well, she should deal with the consequences.

He was shaken from his musings when Deidara reappeared and pushed a cardboard cup of hot chocolate into his frozen hands. He'd barely had time to nod his thanks before there was a car-horn fanfare behind them and they swung round to see Pein's motor-bike careering through the cars on the street like a slalom skier. A flash of blue behind the helmeted driver announced Konan's presence on the back of the vehicle. Completely oblivious – or just plain uncaring – to the people on the pavement, the bike mounted the kerb and shot across the square to the parking bays, rather than merely going a few extra meters around the corner on the road.

In fairness, Itachi had to agree that the move was perfectly executed. Pein slid the Yamaha neatly between two parked cars at full speed and then swung a tight circle to pull up in the bike bay. Where a lesser driver could have easily clipped a wing mirror at the very least, he hadn't even grazed the paint work. There was a smattering of applause from a nearby watching group of school children.

"One of these days, he's gonna throw poor Konan off that thing." Deidara muttered. "How he can ride like that with a pillion passenger I don't know!"

"If I didn't know you better I'd say that was the voice of responsibility talking." Itachi remarked dryly.

The blonde grinned at him.

"Hey guys." Konan greeted cheerfully, throwing her loose hair back over her shoulders as if she hadn't just had a close brush with death. "How's it going?"

"Not bad. Impressive piece of driving there." Deidara said enthusiastically.

Pein was busy pulling at his helmet, and it came off his head with difficulty. The resulting hair was hilarious, but his sister and friends would rather cut off their own thumbs than admit that to him as he glared at them.

"_Impressive_? You're bloody kidding me, aren't you?!" He growled. "The spin was unbalanced and I wasn't fast enough cutting up the kerb."

Konan smacked him round the head. "Don't be an idiot. And it was hardly bad; I'd like to see someone else do that."

There was a squeal of brakes on the other-side of the square and a grin replaced Pein's grumpy frown. "But here's my closest rival."

Itachi shook his head with a world-weary sigh – was there a single one of his new friends who didn't flirt with the traffic laws? He didn't recognise the car, but there was no mistaking the white-haired driver leaning out the window and screaming a tirade of abuse at the other motorists. Hidan was just the type of person who liked to make a _big_ entrance.

It was slightly ruined by the fact that the car he was driving was a rather upmarket people mover, and was hardly designed for being treated like a racing car. As it was a car that size could easily carry the rest of their group.

The driver put it into a neat hand-brake turn and swung it into a parking bay with barely a kiss against the kerb. Most of the doors swung open before the engine was even off and Hidan was hollering about watching the paintwork.

"Tell me Deidara," Itachi said conversationally. "Is it possible for me to know anybody sane in this town?" Deidara merely raised an eye-brow at him and the Uchiha nodded glumly. "Yeah, I thought so."

The rest of the gang had sauntered up to them by this point, and Kakuzu lit a cigarette.

"So, what's up?" Pein asked, leaning against one of the pillars and folding his arms across his chest.

Itachi was not usually one for dramatics during what he deemed to be 'business' but he had to admit to very much looking forward to the reactions his answer would give.

"My rather dumb little brother managed to set loose a demon last night." He said airily. "And Deidara was not exactly the brightest bulb in the box last night either, so now the thing is on the run somewhere around here, and I think I know where it is."

Looking around he was quite pleased with the result.

Gobsmacked. Awed. Shocked. Astounded. Stunned. Pick a word, any word. All of them and others nicely described the general reaction.

"D...Demon?" Sasori was the first to manage a reaction. "_Seriously_?"

"I don't tend to joke about things like this."

There was a second stunned silence. The small group had just begun to get their heads around the existence of ghosts and the like, but even so a _demon_ was too much of a Halloween trick to just forget years of disbelief. Well, for most of them at any rate. As Itachi's gaze scanned his friends he realised that there was one who looked a lot less confused and a lot more worried than someone who didn't believe in demons should.

"Hidan? What is it?"

The albino was biting at his thumb-nail distractedly – looking far more serious and worried than most of them had ever seen him. At the sound of his name he glanced up. He glared at the raised eye browed looks aimed at him.

"What?" He asked defensively. "Look, just because I'm not one of those suit-wearing Oxbridge vicar's sons, doesn't mean I don't still know the Bible back to front and side-ways. I know about demons, and they are _bad_. If there's one around here we're in trouble!"

This was unexpected by all accounts. Hidan was usually the very last person in the group to come out with a sensible statement. It was far more his style to swear and laugh the problem off. In fact, it was also one of the few times they'd ever openly heard him admit to such an in-depth understanding of his faith; they knew he was religious, but it wasn't something he was fond of showing.

"What makes you say that?" Itachi asked quietly. "They aren't all an issue, most are just mischievous."

Hidan shrugged. "My Dad had to do an exorcism once, in the church." He shuddered. "It was _dangerous_! The guy went nuts by the second verse of the prayer and sheared through one of the stone pillars with his bare _hand_. So don't tell me that demons aren't difficult to deal with!"

Pein pushed past the others to stare at his friend. "Wait, are you saying that you _believe_ in demons?" He asked incredulously.

"Of course I do, it kinda goes with the whole 'being Christian' thing I've got going." Hidan said irritably. "Not to mention that I was there when Dad did the exorcism. I _saw_ that thing come out of the guy." He shivered. "Believe me, those things are real alright!"

"Well, that aside." Itachi interrupted, "It's a moot point since we don't know what the one we're dealing with is like."

"Other than it's thinking like me." Deidara added. He had to admit that it was rather funny how Itachi was trying to steal back some of his lime-light from Hidan. "Where _is_ Sasuke anyway? He said he'd meet us here."

The Uchiha looked around the market square. "I see him; he's over by the pub." He turned back to his friends. "Right, you guys try not to get involved, I don't want this thing causing casualties. Hidan?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you do a rudimentary blessing?"

The albino shrugged. "Sure I guess. Why?"

"I don't have any of my supplies with me. Can you go and buy a bottle of water, bless it and bring it back to me?"

Deidara snorted with laughter. "Holy water in five seconds? How much good will that be?"

"Better than nothing. And bring some salt too!" He yelled after Hidan's retreating back. He received a raised middle finger in reply, which he could only hope was an affirmative. Looking back towards the distant figure of his brother he gulped down the rest of his cup of hot chocolate in the manner of a warrior preparing for battle – well, in a way he was; Sasuke was _not_ going to be a happy bunny. "Okay, let's face the music."

The younger Uchiha was leaning against the pub wall, Naruto sat on the ground next to him. They both stood up as the older teens approached them and Sasuke's expression slid into an evil glower at the sight of his brother.

"You!" He stormed up to Itachi until he was nose to nose with the elder. "What ever you did last night, undo it _right now_! I want my friend back!"

Itachi's gaze slide from the teen to the blonde standing just a little way behind him. Naruto looked no different from normal, but one couldn't go by looks alone when it came to demonic possession.

"Cut the crap Sasuke." He sighed irritably. "Now, how do you know something's wrong with him?"

"He's _different_!" It was easy to see that Sasuke was scared, and that fear was fuelling his anger. "He's talking differently, and he won't even eat a Pot Noodle! You can't tell me that's right!"

Itachi didn't know the significance of the Pot Noodle comment, but he trusted his little brother's judgement – even if Sasuke didn't trust him. He glanced over at the sound of running feet, and Hidan returned carrying some sachets of salt and a bottle of Evian water – _the Holy Evian_ Itachi thought wryly – which he held out with a nod of confirmation.

"Okay Sasuke, get out the way and I'll have a word with him." The older Uchiha said sternly.

"Don't you dare hurt him!"

Itachi brushed past his brother with an annoyed sigh. Naruto stared at him curiously.

"Hey, Sasuke's-freaky-brother." He waved a hand cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Nothing, just wanted to see how you were feeling after last night." The Uchiha said casually. "Just making sure you weren't traumatised for life or anything."

Innocent blue eyes glittered at him. "Last night? Oh that special effects thing you did. Yeah, very impressive I must say."

Special effects? Well, it figured that Sasuke would have had to tell his friends _something_. "So, no adverse effects or anything, you've been feeling alright?"

Naruto looked slightly annoyed. "Yes, of course."

Itachi smirked. "So you aren't adverse to me saying certain words then?" He leaned in closer. "Like _corpus christae_?"

The blonde tensed and a shudder ran down his spine.

"I thought so." Itachi said smugly, leaning back. As he did so there were cries of horror from behind him and he smirked as he looked into Naruto's blood red eyes. "Hello again."

The demon giggled. "You found me. That was fun!" He spun round with a laugh. "I _like_ it here, it's so much _fun_! Let's play another game!"

"No-" Itachi lunged forwards, but Naruto danced out of his grasp.

"Come on, catch me if you can!" The blonde grinned, his red eyes glowing ominously, and jumped.

No-one should be able to jump that high! Correction; no-one _human_ should be able to jump that high. A leap that should have propelled him about three feet shot him up nearer to fifteen and without looking he grabbed hold of the lintel, effortlessly pivoting on one hand and swinging himself onto the pub roof.

Itachi was well aware of the superhuman strength possessed by demons, and the others caught on quick.

"Dude, he's like, from the Matrix or something!" Kisame whistled, watching in admiration as Naruto took a series of leaps that landed him on the very top of the pub's chimney stack. The blonde waved down at them.

"Come and get me!"

Itachi groaned. "Crap. Does that building have a fire escape to the roof or something?"

Sasori shook his head. "I did my work experience there, there's no way up, you can take my word on that." He shrugged hopelessly and stared up at the high roof. "What do we do now?"

There was a silence across the group. Even Sasuke was keeping quiet, although the glare he sent in his brother's direction should by rights have seared through Itachi like acid. Naruto waved cheerfully again.

Then a little cough came from the back of the group. It was a meaningful cough, one of aimed for catching people's attention rather than clearing the throat. The boys all turned round to see Konan pulling various rings off her fingers in a business-like fashion. She looked up at them and grinned.

"Well if all you strong handsome men can't do a thing about him, then _I_ will." She stuffed the rings into her pockets and cracked her knuckles. "Watch out, I need a run-up."

"Konan, what are you...?" Deidara trailed off as she backed up a few steps then bounded forwards straight into the pub wall. Straight _up_ the pub wall. Using her momentum she managed enough steps to grab onto the gutter and without even slowing she swung her body round and up to land neatly on the shingles. The demon applauded as the rest of her friends gaped at her.

"How...?" Deidara stuttered.

Pein smirked proudly. "Didn't she tell you? My little sister is the female British Parcour champion. That demon ain't got shit on her."

Konan was already at the chimney stack and lunging at Naruto. He giggled and jumped backwards.

"This is fun! Let's play catch!" The blonde took off like a gazelle, leaping across the tiles and jumping the fifteen foot gap between the pub roof and that of the shop next door like one would jump over a twig. Konan pursed her lips in concentration and followed after him.

"Konan, _no_!!!" Even Pein went white as his sister bounded across the roof after the demon, and then launched herself across the gap. Tucking her legs up to her chest, the girl rolled across the tiles upon landing and was up and away again without a break in her speed.

"Dear God..." Hidan voiced everyone's thoughts as they watched their friend running across the rooftops after the demon like it was an everyday occurrence. He turned as Itachi brushed past him. "What are you doing?"

"Helping her." The Uchiha tore the packets of salt open and tipped them onto the floor to create a circle of the white crystals. Deidara nodded in agreement with the tactic and Hidan peered over the Uchiha's shoulder.

"Can you exorcise it?"

"I'm intending to."

There was a sudden blast of creepy carnival music – the sort usually heard in a house of horrors – causing Pein to swear and pull his phone out of his pocket. He unlocked it and glared at the caller ID.

"Konan? Shouldn't you kinda be concentrating on not falling off the roof?!" He yelled down the handset, flicking it onto speakerphone.

"_Well someone come up with an idea to catch the bastard! I don't have unlimited energy reserves you know!" _konan's voice was broken up by the wind caused by her speed, but she was still understandable.

Itachi grabbed the phone from Pein. "Konan? Can you chase him back over to us? Turn tables and make him try to catch you if you can."

"_Feasible. What am I aiming for?_"

"Back where we are, I've drawn a salt circle on the pavement, see if you can get him to jump into it."

Konan snorted down the phone. "_As easy as that huh?_" She turned her phone off again and paused. She was currently standing on top of a shop roof, her back to her friends and the demon about twenty meters infront of her. Naruto cocked his head and grinned, red eyes glittering.

"You giving up?" He asked sweetly.

Konan tried to ignore the fact that she was talking to a demonic entity – some things are best not thought about when one is stood on the roof of a three story building.

"I'm bored of this game." She called. "How about you chase me instead?" Her heart was thudding in her chest as the demon considered this, then nodded. Light glinted off a sharpened incisor as he grinned and _pounced_.

The girl let out an involuntary scream – not surprising considering she had a possessed teenager chasing her – and began running back towards her target. Without a break in her stride she managed the death-defying leap back onto the pub roof, hearing Naruto land on all fours close behind.

"Come on!" Itachi was pointing to the small circle on the pavement. Konan didn't question him – hell, she'd seen the claws that had replaced Naruto's nails and didn't want to experience how sharp they were anytime soon – and leapt from the roof straight down into the salt circle with perfect accuracy. Without a break in her speed she sprang out of the patch of ground, just as the blonde took to the air and followed her trajectory down.

Naruto landed dead centre of the circle, but as he tried to continue through the movement her rebounded back from what appeared to be an invisible wall. He snarled and shouldered forward, only to be thrown back again by the localised force field. It took a few more attempts and some mime-like movements before the demon realised that he was well and truly stuck, and he settled down to glower at the group of friends.

"Hello again." Itachi smiled infuriatingly.

"Let me go!" Naruto hissed, baring his sharpened teeth.

"You have no right to be in that child." The Uchiha said calmly, seemingly unaffected by the fact that he was face to face with a demon. "I told you last night to leave this place, and now you've pissed me off."

The demon hissed. "Oh I'm _so_ scared! You really think you can just order me around?"

Itachi raised an eye-brow at the tone. "I was hoping that you would see things from a sensible point of view." He sighed. "Come on. We both know that you're not supposed to be here and I really don't want to have to get rid of you forcefully – it's not pretty and you won't enjoy it. See reason and do us all a favour."

"No! I like it here and I'm having fun, why should I leave?"

Sasuke shouldered through the rest of the group to glare at the demon. "You get the hell out of my friend! I want Naruto back!"

Naruto's red-eyes narrowed. "Feisty!" He grinned at the two Uchiha's. "You two have got to be brothers."

Itachi forcibly pushed Sasuke back out of the demon's line of sight, keeping the furious teen behind himself. "That's none of your concern!" He snapped. "Now, leave or I will _make _you!"

The demon folded his arms with an arrogant smirk. "Bring it!"

"As you wish."

The Uchiha nonchalantly pulled the sports cap off the bottle of water, swilled it around for a moment, then flicked it forwards. The water escaped its confines and shot through the air in a glistening arc that hit Naruto square in the chest. Against all common sense in the cold wintery air the water hissed and steamed on contact. The demon screamed loudly, throwing his head back and clawing at his chest.

"I warned you!" Itachi snapped. He lifted his right hand and made the sign of the cross over the possessed boy. "P_ie Jesu dominae, dona eis requiem_!"

Naruto collapsed, sprawling out of the salt circle. As he did so the same blue entity that they had seen the previous night appeared and hovered over him – faint in the daylight. Its eyes narrowed at the Uchiha.

"You'll regret that, human!" Now that it was out of the teen's body it had reverted back to using Deidara's voice. "This means war!"

It vanished.

"Bollocks!" Itachi spun around, but the thing was quite clearly gone.

"Where is it?" Deidara asked.

The Uchiha ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "God knows, it could have gone anywhere." He threw the empty bottle down on the floor and shouted something short and sharp. No-one understood what he'd said but it was obvious from his tone of voice that he was swearing. "Damnit all, I underestimated the bastard! So much for assuming that a simple exorcism would sort the wretched thing out."

Pein cleared his throat uncomfortably. "So, um...now what do we do?" He asked quietly.

"Do we have to hunt it down or something?" Konan added.

Itachi had to smile. His friends had just had their first true encounter with the paranormal, and were already trying to assess and evaluate the problem. Most people would have screamed and run in the opposite direction, but they'd just stood there with him and faced the thing head on.

"We can't hunt it easily; we don't know what trail it leaves." He said, "The best thing to do right now is for someone to get Naruto home and for me to do some research."

His comment redirected the group's attention back to the grudgingly-conscious blonde. Sasuke was sitting next to his friend, attempting to help him up. He looked up as the older teens crowded around and glared at them.

"Oh so _now_ you wonder if he's alright!" He snapped.

" 'm fine." Naruto mumbled. "Wha' happen'd?"

They looked at each other.

"Sasuke can explain." Itachi said kindly, earning a furious glare from his little brother. He pulled his group of friends away from the two younger teens and pointed to Hidan. "Can you drive Naruto home? He could probably do with a few hours sleep."

Hidan cast a sideways glance at the blonde. "Sure, but if he chucks up over my car you're paying the cleaning bill." He sighed.

"Right now I don't think keeping your Espace clean is a priority." Konan teased. Hidan stuck his tongue out at her and she punched him lightly on the arm.

"By the way Konan, that was bloody _amazing_ what you just did!" Deidara praised, clapping the girl on the back. "Most women would have stood there helplessly and let the guys deal with it, but _you_ go all Matrix and kicked that demon's arse! You are one brave chick!"

"Foolhardy is more the word I would have used." Pein groused. "It was reckless and downright dangerous, Konan! You could have fallen and killed yourself." Before she could argue back against his statement he pulled her into a tight hug. "And what would I do if I didn't have my baby sister to order me around?"

"Yeah, that was really risky." Hidan added. "If you'd slipped..."

Konan disentangled herself from her over-protective brother and grinned round at her friends. "Aw! All you guys were _worried_ about me!" There was a general muttering and shuffling of feet from the surrounding males and she laughed. "You lot are so _sweet_! I was fine, and actually it was rather fun! It's not everyday I have an excuse to chase a demon across the rooftops."

"It is certainly a useful skill." Itachi said absentmindedly, brushing away the salt with his foot. He looked up at his friends. "Okay, we need a plan of action." They nodded; a circle of attentiveness. "Right, Hidan; I need you to drive Naruto and Sasuke back to Naruto's place, then go home, fill up about ten bottles of water and get blessing."

"That didn't work though." Sasori stated.

"Not on its own, it will with a little more persuasion." The Uchiha said. He looked around at the other. "You guys get back home and read up about demons – Wikipedia should do the trick – I want you to know vaguely what we're up against." He pointed to Deidara. "And you. You're coming with me."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM

"So, what are we doing again?" Deidara asked conversationally. They were both sat cross-legged on Itachi's futon, the Uchiha's laptop on the desk infront of them. Itachi was repeatedly hitting the return key with resignation written across his face.

"Well, my forte is ghosts, and although I can take out a demon, I'd rather have some expert help. If they'd pick up my call that is!" He hit the return again.

"So you're calling up an expert then?"

"The best there is. I only hope they'll agree to help." Itachi grinned when Deidara looked questioningly at him. "We had a bit of a disagreement last time we spoke, they have rather different methods to me-" He broke off as his laptop made a little jingle. "Ah! Finally!"

He connected the webcam call and a face came into view on the screen.

"Heya Itachi! Long time no speak." The person greeted cheerfully. His tone was friendly enough, and Deidara placed the accent as American.

Itachi smiled. "Hi there, how's things?"

"Same old. You?"

"Well, actually I'm in a spot of bother and could do with your expert advice."

"There's a turn up for the books; _you_ needing help." Sam Winchester sat back with a grin. "So, how may we be of service?"

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	4. Chapter 4

**Well hello again!**

**It's been a while huh? Well, exams, uni work, revision, lab work and God only knows what else do rather leech time from me :0 **

**This is dedicated to three people this time round: My amazing squidy sister - who has just finished her GCSEs, so everyone please give her a round of applause - , my betareader Manu – without whom I would lost amid a sea of grammar ****– and finally **J**essy-Fran**, **who wrote the most amazing review ever :D**

**Hugs to everyone who reads this, and cookies to reviewers.**

_He connected the webcam call and a face came into view on the screen._

"_Heya Itachi! Long time no speak." The person greeted cheerfully. His tone was friendly enough, and Deidara placed the accent as American._

_Itachi smiled. "Hi there, how's things?"_

"_Same old. You?"_

"_Well, actually I'm in a spot of bother and could do with your expert advice."_

"_There's a turn up for the books; you needing help." Sam Winchester sat back with a grin. "So, how may we be of service?"_

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Itachi steepled his fingers and sighed. "We have a demon running loose."

"Demon?!" There was a squawk off screen and Sam was pushed out of the way by a shorter man. "What demon? Oh..." His eyes narrowed. "It's you Itachi."

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "Hi Dean."

Deidara looked from the man on-screen to his friend; there was a definite tension between the two. An angry tension. There was movement on the webcam and the one Itachi had called Dean was shoved out of the way again and Sam came back into view.

"Sorry, he's being a grumpy jerk." The younger Winchester said cheerfully. "His car's just been impounded." It was quite obvious that he was doing his damnedest not to laugh. "We were investigating a poltergeist that had killed someone and the police took the car since it was at the scene of the so-called crime."

"And the bastards won't give it back!" Dean howled in the background. Sam pushed him further away.

"So, you mentioned a demon?" He asked.

Itachi nodded. "My brother summoned one last night by mistake, and my genius best friend set the damn thing loose because he didn't listen to me."

Sam raised an eye-brow. "You have a friend? That's even more unusual than you asking for help."

"Very funny!" Itachi pulled Deidara into the view point of his webcam so that Sam could see the blonde. "Sam, this is my friend Deidara. Dei, this is Sam Winchester, ghost-hunter extraordinaire," There was teasing sarcasm to the way he said that. "And the grumpy guy is his older brother, Dean."

Deidara waved a hand at the screen. "Uh, hi." He felt uncharacteristically shy speaking to the paranormal expert, and it didn't help that the American seemed to be a few years older than himself too.

Sam grinned at the younger blonde. "Hey there. So, how did Fluffy the Weasel trick you into being his friend?"

"It was kinda the other way round actually." Deidara said with a chuckle. "I attached myself to him and he's been teaching me things ever since."

"You rather forced my hand by putting a curse on someone." Itachi pointed out good-naturedly.

Sam's grin vanished. "You did _what_?"

Deidara held up his hands in mock surrender. "It was purely accidental! I didn't even know I could do it until Itachi reverted it back onto me." He grinned hopefully. For some reason the American hadn't seemed thrilled at the revelation.

Sam's eyes had narrowed in concentration. "So you have powers?"

"I guess you could say that."

"And there's a demon after you?!"

Itachi laughed and shook his head. "Don't even go there, Sam. It's not connected."

"But-"

"Honest."

Sam sighed and grinned. "Guess I'm a little fixated at times." He said apologetically, running a hand through his hair. "So, what can you do Deidara?"

The American looked genuinely interested, and Deidara found that he rather liked the intelligent but easy-going young man. He shrugged with a grin.

"I dunno yet. Itachi's classified me as telepathic, and I can kinda hear thoughts, or project them." He said enthusiastically. "I don't know the limit, but I'm having fun trying to find out."

An expression of grudging admiration crossed Sam's face. "Well, I have to admire your attitude." He stated. "It took me quite a while to accept mine."

Deidara's eyes lit up. "You can do stuff too? What?!"

There was a snort from Dean and he came back into the webcam's range. "Hey Sam, you could learn a lot from blondie; I haven't seen anyone so excited about having freaky powers since for ever!" He grabbed the younger Winchester in a head-lock and ruffled his hair.

"Dean! Get off me jerk!"

Dean released him with a laugh. "Bitch!"

Itachi shook his head with a groan. He didn't tend to call on the Americans for two reasons: One, he and Dean hated each other, and two, the brothers tended to get a little.....side-tracked with their arguments.

"Guys, just answer Deidara's question please." He sighed. The Winchester boys stopped bickering and grinned sheepishly.

"Ah, yeah." Sam wrestled his brother out of the camera view. "I'm still working on it, but at the moment it's just premonitions. Dreams mostly, but I've had a fair few when awake if the stimuli are right."

"Cool!"

Once again the Uchiha cleared his throat and interrupted the conversation, this time before Deidara could ask any more questions. "Okay, as great as it is that you guys are getting along, we're on a time limit here." He said sternly. "Go find each other on Face-book if you're that interested in each other." Deidara went a furious red, causing Itachi to re-run the sentence in his head and try to rephrase it. "If you want to _talk_ more." He corrected. Odd that; he'd completely forgotten that his blonde friend was gay.

Sam hadn't noticed anything in his normal oblivious way, and just nodded in agreement with the Uchiha. "Yeah, sorry." He reached over for his aged backpack and rummaged around in it. "I'm guessing you don't know this demon's diabolical signature?" He asked, his voice slightly muffled since his head was still inside the bag.

"I've barely had chance to talk to it, let alone find _that _out."

"Right, yeah, of course." Sam was quite obviously not listening. He re-emerged from the bag holding a large book in both hands. It was a rather tatty old thing, but he opened it with some reverence. "Okay, there's a whole load of stuff in here that could help, but if you need something quick and effective I'll send over the main things." His fingers began flying over the key-board. "You've still got the same e-mail, right?"

Itachi nodded. "Of course."

"Good, I'll get it to you ASAP." Sam grinned at him.

"You two sound like a bunch of college kids!" Dean snorted. Both his brother and the Uchiha glared at him.

"News-flash brainiac." Itachi snapped. "I _am_ a college kid!"

"Shut-up junior!"

"Arse-hole!"

Sam smacked Dean around the head. "Stop being a jerk!" He grinned apologetically at the two Brits. "Sorry, as I say; he's grumpy." He flicked through a few pages of the book. "Okay, I've found some stuff here that you could pull off quite easily, considering your skill level. And there's some useful traps and snares that I'll scan in for you too."

Itachi bowed his head slightly. "Thank-you. I knew I could count on you, Sam." There was an angry humph from Dean.

The younger Winchester grinned and gave a little salute. "Anytime Fluffy, anytime. Was that all you needed?"

The Uchiha winced at the nickname, but smiled. "For now."

"Great. We'll leave you be then; it's nearly lunchtime-"

"And I need fooooood!" Dean howled behind Sam.

Deidara sniggered and nodded. "A feeling I can empathise with." Dean gave him a thumbs-up in a gesture of fellow-feeling.

"And I need to feed the cookie monster here." Sam finished. He pushed his older brother out of the view of the camera. "And then it's back to chasing down our elusive poltergeist. See you round Itachi, don't be a stranger."

"Yeah, good luck."

Itachi killed the connection and sat back.

"They're cool." Deidara said cautiously.

"Hmm." Itachi was already checking his email on the off-chance that Sam could type at the speed of light.

The blonde cocked his head to one side curiously. "Why don't you like Dean? He seemed funny." When he didn't receive a reply he grinned. "Or is it just your whole 'I-hate-America' thing again?"

Itachi glared at him. "Hey, I'm not _that_ bad!" He folded his arms and looked sulky as Deidara began laughing. "He and I just don't see eye to eye over ways to deal with the paranormal. We've had quite a few disagreements in the past."

"And Sam?"

"Oh, he's alright, if you like kicked puppies."

Deidara snorted. "Now that's mean! I thought he was cute."

The Uchiha raised an eye-brow. "Yeah, I could tell." He turned back to his laptop and began typing again. "Don't get me wrong." He continued. "They're decent guys; I just don't personally like them all that much. But they're the best in their field and I needed something to go on with this demon problem."

Nodding, and shifting his position on the bed, Deidara poked his friend in the side. He received an annoyed glare for his efforts. "So, are there others then?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Other paranormal researchers, ghost hunters!" He rolled over on the mattress to lie on his back, grinning at the Uchiha upside down. "So far I know you, your Japanese crew and those Americans. Are there others?!"

Giving up on getting anything useful done with the blonde from hell bugging him, Itachi sighed. "Yes, there are many of us." He pulled up a Word document. "Look. These are people that I know of that I can contact if I need help." The mouse ran down a list that neared fifty names.

Deidara sat up properly and stared. "They're from all over the _world_." His eyes were as large as saucers as he gazed at the screen. "India, Palestine, Australia, China, Argentina..." His trailed off, mouth hanging open.

"These are just the ones that could be useful to me; there are thousands of others out there." Itachi said, running down the list again. "Each one specialises in something – such as the Winchesters and their demon fixation."

The blonde followed the mouse down. "India, Brahmin summoning chants, Valmiki. What does all that mean?"

"It means that Valmiki is a specialist in Brahmin summoning chants, just as it says." Itachi was having a hard time not laughing at Deidara's stunned expression.

"You're on there." The blonde pointed to Itachi's name, listed under 'England'. "Speciality; hitogota. Those little wooden stick men thingies? How can you specialise in those?"

Itachi looked affronted. "Do you _mind_?! I'm a leading world expert with those 'little wooden stick men thingies'!"

The blonde continued to look politely blank and the Uchiha sighed heavily.

"What do you think they're used for?"

"Well, kinda like voodoo I guess. You took the energy aimed at me and directed it towards the stick-man when you saved me from Pein that time." Deidara said with a shrug.

"Exactly. And that's been proved to be completely impossible."

"Meaning...?"

Itachi sighed in exasperation – his friend was clearly missing what he assumed to be an obvious vital point. "_Meaning_ that I'm one of very few people on this planet that can use them in such a way. Generally the most one can do with them is transfer a curse or ill will."

Deidara's blank expression became somewhat more enlightened. "So you're a freak even within the supernatural society?"

"Uh...yes." Well, it wasn't how Itachi would have put it, but that was the gist of it. "And I don't appreciate the term 'freak' by the way."

The blonde flashed him the largest set of puppy-eyes Itachi had ever seen. "Not even from me?"

This was where Itachi's limited social skill reserves completely dried up. Oh God...now his troublesome friend's bottom lip was quivering and the big blue eyes were welling up. Panic shot through him and he quickly held up his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay, you can call me it!"

And just like that the crocodile tears were gone. "Hah! Sucker."

Before Itachi could respond to the childish taunt there was a sudden humming noise and a blast of Paint it Black. Deidara pulled his vibrating phone out of his pocket.

"Y'hello?" He rolled over onto his back, his head brushing against Itachi's knee, grinning up at the Uchiha upside-down. "Hey Konan, what's up?" There was a muffled sentence that Itachi didn't pick up, and Deidara nodded. "Yeah sure, we're at Itachi's right now, meet us here? I'm assuming Hidan's got the Holy Water? Right, yeah, that's good. Yeah he's just called up some Americans, I think we've got an answer on how to deal with it. Right, see you in a bit." He flicked the phone shut and looked up at his friend. "The guys want to meet up; Hidan's finished blessing, and Kisame has printed off every Wiki article there is on demons."

"Are they coming here?"

"Yeah, and they're bringing Sasuke back, he's very pissed off with you."

Itachi snorted. "I'd have been surprised if he wasn't. When are they going to get here?"

"About five minutes, she called from the car."

"Right." The Uchiha shut off his laptop then glance down at Deidara who was comfortably using his knees as a pillow. "Um, are you going to get off me?"

"Do you want me to?"

"It would allow the blood flow back into my legs."

Deidara smirked and did as he was asked. As he did so his mobile rang for a second time, and there was a horn fan-fare from the street outside.

"I think they're here." He jumped to his feet, grabbing Itachi's wrist and dragging the Uchiha up as he did so. "Come on!"

They ran down the stairs – well, Itachi ran, Deidara leapt every other step and jumped when he was five from the bottom. He reached the front door first and bounded out onto the street.

"Heya guys!"

Hidan was busy hustling Sasuke out of the car and he looked up to wave sarcastically at the two.

"Can you _please_ take misery-guts off my hands? His bitchy whining is boring through my head like a..." He struggled to find a decent analogy. "Like an annoying bory thing!"

Sasuke shot the albino what could only be called a glare of doom and stalked away from the car.

"Is Naruto alright?" Deidara knew better than to direct his question to the sulky Uchiha, so looked at Hidan instead, who waved a hand airily in reply.

"Yeah he'll live. He chucked up all over his front door-step, but other than that no issues."

Sasuke snorted angrily at that, but made no further comment as he marched up the drive-way – purposefully knocking Itachi with his shoulder as he did so.

The older Uchiha shock his head at the teen's attitude, but didn't bother rising to the bait and snapping back at the kid. Sasuke was quite obviously trying to wind him up, and he refused to be wound.

"Okay guys, what've we got then?" He asked, rubbing his hands together in a business-like fashion.

Kisame waved a thick wad of paper at him. "I've used up all my printer credits, and the library no longer has any black ink, but this is every single Wiki article or stub I could find on demons and the like." He moved aside to reveal the interior of the car. "And we have five 2 Litre bottles of water that Hidan assures us is now holy."

Deidara let out a low whistle. "You guys really covered the bases, huh?"

The rest of the group looked suitably smug at his comment. Hidan appeared from around the other side of the car, grinning from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat and one arm behind his back clearly trying to conceal something.

"I didn't just bless the bottles." He stated triumphantly. He brought his arm round, revealing a FlashFlood water gun. "Ta Daa!!! This should do the job! Three litres of unrivalled power right in the suckers face! And as holy as it gets." He beamed as Itachi face-palmed. To be fair to Hidan, it was technically a good idea, just somewhat...less than traditional. Demon hunting was an age-old practice full of lore surrounding mystical guns, holy symbols and angelic prophecies. A super soaker water pistol, no matter how cool it was, kind of took the mysticism out of the art.

Hidan spun round on the spot, posing with the gun in various heroic poses before turning back to Itachi. "So. Where is it then?"

"I don't know yet."

The albino's face fell comically. "But....who am I going to FlashFlood then?!" He wailed. "It's November; you lot would kill me if I soaked you!"

Konan eyed the gun warily. "Kill you is a moderate term to what I'd do if you dared soak me with that thing."

Itachi left them bickering and turned to the rest of the group. "Okay guys, we still have no idea where this thing is as of the moment, but I have a contact in America who's sending me through what basically trims down to being an idiot's guide to demon hunting. With any luck that will help us pin this thing down and catch him."

"How do we tell if someone's possessed?" Pein asked. "It could be a little bit of an issue if it's in one of us and no-one else knows."

Hidan cackled and raised his water gun, but Itachi just shook his head. "It would have gotten bored by now and would have shown itself."

"By climbing up buildings again?" Sasori asked.

"Yes, I suppose so-"

"And grinning manically, waving and sitting on the roof of a house?"

Itachi frowned. "Well yes but..." He trailed off. Sasori's gaze wasn't aimed at him, but was fixed on a point just over his shoulder. What was...?

Sasuke.

The eldest Uchiha turned slowly.

Sure enough Sasuke was perched on the shelf above the door, grinning widely – an expression which had possibly _never_ been on his face before. He waved at Itachi's look of growing realisation and fury.

"Took you long enough. I've been in him for hours now!" The teen's eyes slowly bled into red as he cocked his head to one side. "He doesn't like you very much you know, he's yelling some rather nasty things at the moment."

Itachi gritted his teeth. "Get the hell out of my brother or you will _seriously_ live to regret it."

"Oh don't be so _boring_! And besides, it's fun to wind you up."

"If you don't leave him this instant I'll-"

"You'll _what_?!" The demon climbed a little further up the side of the house and made itself comfortable on the roof. "We both know that you wouldn't do anything that might hurt dear baby brother, so stop making empty threats." He cast a glance at Konan, who was making her way to the drain-pipe. "And don't bother sending her after me; that was a fun game last time, but I'm bored of it now and may not play so nicely."

Konan let go of the guttering and glared at the possessed teen.

"What do you want?" Itachi demanded. "Leave my brother and we can sort something out."

"Like hell you will." The demon stood up and began skipping along the very top of the roof where the tiles sloped up to make a very thin edge. "As to what I want; I want to have _fun_!" He spread his arms wide on the last word.

Stupid move.

November, wet tiles and pure good old-fashioned British weather made for a treacherous surface to climb on in the first place. And demon or not, the body was still human, and had human limitations; this included Sasuke's deplorable lack of balance.

As the demon spread its arms the gusting wind took full advantage.

"_Sasuke_!" Itachi hollered.

The possessed teen pin-wheeled his arms, trying to keep his balance on the wet roof as the sudden flurry took him by surprise. It was only a matter of simple physics what would happen next.

Slow-mo is usually only a phenomena found within a cinema, but in this case time suddenly crawled as the demon finally over-balanced and the possessed body began to fall. As gravity took hold a faint blue light emanated around Sasuke before forming a familiar shape above the teen and vanishing; rats leave sinking ships, and the demon had no intention of staying inside a dying human.

It was easy to tell the exact moment when Sasuke was given control back; one moment he was a falling body, next moment he was a screaming person.

Konan shrieked and turned away and most of the men had gone white or had already automatically averted their eyes. Itachi however was muttering furiously under his breath, and with barely any time left he thrust his hands out infront of himself, palms up.

Sasuke – less than two meters from the ground – suddenly decreased his descent as the invisible barrier his brother had constructed caught him. It wasn't a completely fail-safe approach as it only _slowed_ his descent, not stopping him. He hit the concrete drive-way with a heavy thud, landing awkwardly on his side and trapping his right arm underneath his body in doing so. However, at his original velocity he would have probably split his head open at the least, so it was a marked improvement.

Itachi lowered his arms, taking a deep breath and letting the world swim back into focus.

"Dude, you are _so_ a Jedi..." Pein said quietly.

The Uchiha ignored the comment, choosing instead to run to where Sasuke was now attempting to sit up. The boy was clutching his arm, and when his brother approached he quickly wiped his free hand across his face, hiding any suspicion of tears.

"Sasuke? Are you alri-"

"Get the hell away from me!" Sasuke staggered to his feet, face pale with pain. He lent heavily against the wall, drawing his injured arm up close to his chest. He glared as Itachi ignored him and walked up to him anyway. "Go away!"

"Your arm's broken." The older Uchiha said calmly.

"I can bloody see that Einstein!" Sasuke pushed him away as the elder tried to take a closer look at the injured limb. "Leave me alone."

Itachi turned back to his friend's. "Guys, change in plans. You lot go off and read up some more or whatever, I'm taking my brother to the hospital."

"No you're bloody not!" The younger Uchiha snarled, pushing away from the wall to stand up straight. Itachi had to steady him when he swayed.

"Sasuke, you're in shock and your arm's broken. We're going to the hospital _now_." The last word had a slight harmonic lilt to it, and Sasuke's protestation died as he met his brother's gaze. Itachi put his hand in his pocket and pressed the button on his car-key to unlock the doors. "Get in the car." The unusual lilt was still there, and his brother silently – albeit mulishly – did as he was told.

"How did you...?" Deidara asked, staring at the strangely co-operative Sasuke.

"Very basic hypnotism." Itachi opened the other door and got into the driver's seat. "I'll be back once they've fixed his arm up."

The rest of the group backed away as the small car reversed off the drive then drove away. Pein shook his head.

"Definitely a Jedi."

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	5. Chapter 5

**Ladies and gentlemen, a drum-roll if I may...*Fanfare* I'VE ACTUALLY UPDATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Sorry this has taken so God-damned long to write, I'm buried over my head in uni work at the moment. Final year, dissertation, lab work, evil lectures....why didn't I take History of Art or something!?! Anyway, such is the life of a biochemist.**

**I can't promise anything as to when the next chapter will be out, but I can promise that it will wrap up a few things and a certain person's feelings will be brought to light. Never fear that I'm going to abandon this, since I already have the next three stories continuing this one planned out and I'll be damned if I stop now!**

**Many many many thanks to my ever gorgeous Beta – Manu, who took time out from sorting through the genomes of mammoths to nit-pick this thing for me. LOVE YOU DARLING!!!!! This is also dedicated to Squid again, but I swear to God I'll retract that if you don't review this time Squiddy!!!! (Yes I'm still holding a grudge ^_^)**

**Oh, and I can't speak Hebrew in the slightest so anything I've written here, please blame Google Translate ^_^**

**So, thank all you lovely marvellous people for putting up with my abysmal updating. I love each and every one of you and cookies and hugs are being offered in exchange for reviews *opens arms ready to hug*....**

**xxoxoxoxoxoxx**

"_Sasuke, you're in shock and your arm's broken. We're going to the hospital now." The last word had a slight harmonic lilt to it, and Sasuke's protestation died as he met his brother's gaze. Itachi put his hand in his pocket and pressed the button on his car-key to unlock the doors. "Get in the car." The unusual lilt was still there, and his brother silently – albeit mulishly – did as he was told._

"_How did you...?" Deidara asked, staring at the strangely co-operative Sasuke._

"_Very basic hypnotism." Itachi opened the other door and got into the driver's seat. "I'll be back once they've fixed his arm up."_

_The rest of the group backed away as the small car reversed off the drive then drove away. Pein shook his head._

"_Definitely a Jedi."_

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"Are you going to talk to me Sasuke, or is this journey going to be incredibly awkward?"

"Take a wild guess." Sasuke was slumped down in the passenger's seat, clutching his injured arm and melting holes through the dash-board with his acidic glare.

Itachi sighed and focussed back on the road. It had begun to drizzle and the grey dual carriage-way was even more uninviting than normal. They passed the local water-sports centre and a couple of very damp kayakers glared at the snug comfortable car.

"Why won't you let me have some ibuprofen anyway?!" Sasuke suddenly burst out, sounding petulant as he glared at his brother.

"I don't want to give you anything that may interfere with what the doctors will give you later."

The younger Uchiha grumped silently, watching the wind-screen wipers as they cleared the rain from the windscreen. Itachi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Is it only your arm that's hurt?"

"What do you care?" The teen snapped.

Itachi shrugged and focussed on the road again – what was the point in having a civil conversation if his passenger wasn't going to be civil? He over-took the local bus that was slogging through the grey country-side, thinking back wistfully to the time only a week or so ago when he'd been on just such a bus with his friends going off to a concert. Had they known that they would soon have to deal with a demon they probably wouldn't have been so jubilant. Actually that was a thought...

"You're not allowed to do that." Sasuke snapped as Itachi pulled his phone out and scrolled down his contacts list. The elder Uchiha ignored him, pressed the call button once he'd found the name he wanted and set the phone down on the dash-board. The dialling tone rang out from the speaker for a few moments before the call was picked up.

"_Itachi? What's wrong? You know I don't like you calling when I'm at work."_

"Sorry Dad, but I figured this counted as a big enough emergency."

The two Uchiha's could practically _hear_ Fugaku frown.

"_What's happened _this_ time? You'd better not have been stabbed again!"_

Itachi laughed quietly. "Nothing like that, well, mostly nothing like that."

"_Mostly?"_

Itachi cast a sideways glance at his little brother. "Well, Sasuke's got a broken arm, but we're on our way to A&E as I speak."

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. _"What do you _mean_ Sasuke's broken his arm?! And are you using your mobile in the car young man?!"_

The eldest Uchiha brother rolled his eyes – his father needed to learn how to prioritise. "Yes I am, but it's on speaker, so it's perfectly legal and safe."

"_And Sasuke's arm?"_

"That's what I'm calling about." Itachi said calmly as he turned off the main round-about onto the road to the hospital. "I know you don't like to get involved with my job and all that, Dad, but there's a problem and it might affect the police force."

"_Oh God, what have you done now?!"_

"_I_ haven't done anything, as such. But there's a demon running around town."

Fugaku groaned. _"That's all I need! Is it possessing people?" _

"Yes, that's why Sasuke's hurt. It borrowed his body for a while."

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. _"Okay then. If I catch wind of anything I'll let you know. This is the _last_ thing I need right now!"_ And so saying he terminated the call. Itachi stared blankly at his phone for a moment.

"Well, bye then."

He sighed irritably and glared out of the windscreen as a red traffic light loomed out of the rain. Was it his imagination or was it getting worse out there? He flicked the windscreen-wipers switch so that they attacked the rain with renewed vigour, slicing the water off the window. There was a shuffling in the seat next to him as Sasuke shifted position, but he ignored the boy – concentrating as the rain made road-visibility poorer.

"Itachi..?"

Itachi almost jumped at the sound of his own name. When was the last time his brother had actually used it, and not some demoralising nickname?

"What?" They were nearing the hospital, but he slowed just a little – if Sasuke was in a mood to talk then he didn't want to pass up on this rare opportunity. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Sasuke fiddling with the sleeve cuff of his shirt.

"Um...Thanks. Y'know, for stopping me from cracking my head open."

Itachi smirked slightly. "Mum would have made me clean the drive-way if you'd splashed brains everywhere." He made sure that his voice carried enough humour in it to show that he was joking – it wasn't worth getting Sasuke pissed off with him if they were to be stuck in a hospital waiting room together for hours. As it was the younger Uchiha actually cracked a small grin. The smile didn't last long though, and he huddled down in his seat, turning his head away from Itachi to gaze out of the window.

"What is it?"

"I thought I was going to die." Sasuke's voice was tiny and he kept his face resolutely turned away as he spoke. "It was like being in the back seat of a car I couldn't control that was being driven off a cliff. When it left I thought...Well, I_ knew_ I was going to die." He sniffed slightly, then tried to pretend that I hadn't.

"I'm sorry." Itachi said quietly. "I'm afraid I'm not very good at searching out where demons have hidden themselves."

Sasuke turned back to look at him, surprise etched over the top of the pained expression he was wearing. "You're _sorry_?!" He exclaimed.

"Well, of course. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I didn't want you anywhere near that thing in the first place, but since you summoned it and all..." Itachi shook his head with a grim chuckle. "Now do you see why I tell you not to play around with Ouija boards and such-like?"

The boy looked taken aback by his brother's harsh tone. "I didn't mean it like that." He muttered. "I meant that you don't have any reason to be sorry. You...You saved my life." He whispered the last four words so quietly that Itachi nearly missed them, then continued with: "I didn't expect that of you."

Itachi braked so suddenly that Sasuke was almost choked by his seat-belt. He looked around wildly, but there was no reason for this emergency stop – to the contrary, the back-road that they were on was deserted. Looking to his elder brother for an answer he was taken aback by Itachi's furious expression.

"You actually thought I'd have let you fall?" The older Uchiha snapped.

"Well..." Sasuke quailed under his brother's glare. "I dunno." He mumbled. Maybe he was expecting an angry tirade back, or maybe he just didn't want to see Itachi's kicked-in-the-teeth look, but he turned back to the window.

There was a soft sigh beside him but he didn't glance back.

Itachi rested his head on top of his hands on the steering wheel. "Have things really become this bad between the two of us?" He asked, finality in his voice. "Has it really got to the stage that you think I'd let you die?"

"You let Shisui die." It was possibly the most tactless thing Sasuke could have said given the circumstances, and it took all of Itachi's will-power not to retaliate with something equally as hurtful.

"I didn't let him die." His voice was icy cold and he saw his brother shrink back a little from him. "And don't you dare even think for a _moment_ that I'd let something happen to you either!" He turned face Sasuke and for the briefest of moments his eyes appeared to flash red. "You may believe that I dislike you, and you can call me a freak and hate me for what I can do, but _never_ think that I wouldn't help you. Never think that I wouldn't do anything I could to save you if you needed it. Got it?"

The teen nodded quickly, eyes large as he stared at his brother.

"Good." Itachi turned back to the wheel, let up the hand-brake, and began following the road again. He angrily brushed his hair back out of his eyes, trying to concentrate on where he was going and not on the furious injustice that was bubbling through him.

"Itachi..."

"_What_?" He snapped.

Sasuke cleared his throat timidly. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "I know you don't hate me and...And I don't hate you either. Not really." He twisted the cuff of his school-shirt so tightly that it tore. "It's just that..."

"Just that what?"

"You scare me."

The admission was so quiet that Itachi nearly didn't hear it. He gripped the steering-wheel tight enough to leave indentations in the leather, glaring furiously at the road ahead of them. They'd left the back-street and re-joined the normal stream of traffic, and he was forced so slow back down to a crawl. Not for the first time he regretted buying a car with such a large engine; the miles per gallon were crap for these city runs, not worth the money.

"Itachi...?"

Sasuke sounded scared as he tried to see what his brother's reaction to his confession was. The older Uchiha left the main road and turned into the huge hospital car-park, concentrating on finding a space outside the A&E before focussing on the question. The large and somewhat ugly building rose up on their right as he reversed into a spot near the entrance.

"Itachi?"

"I can't help what I am, Sasuke." The eldest Uchiha finally said quietly. "I know what I did when we were kids, and believe what you will, I didn't mean to hurt you. I couldn't control what I could do – hence the poltergeist activity."

"I know that." Sasuke muttered. "Sorry."

Itachi looked at the kid for a long time before unbuckling his seat-belt and leaning over to ruffle his brother's hair.

"Hey!" A very begrudging grin stole over Sasuke's face as he brushed his sibling's hand away. "I'm not a kid!"

"You're sixteen. You're a kid." Itachi opened his car door and dug his umbrella out from underneath the car-seat. "Come on then." He opened the umbrella and stepped out of the vehicle, closing his door behind himself. There was a corresponding slam from Sasuke's door, and Itachi locked the car whilst his brother scooted under the umbrella to shelter from the driving rain.

They made their way into the accident and emergency room, and Itachi groaned inwardly when he saw how many people were occupying the place. He was far too familiar with the emergency room – considering his haemophilia – and knew damn well that it was going to be _hours_ before Sasuke was seen to. A nurse bustled over to them, looking tired and fed up with the amount of people she was having to deal with, but she fixed a weary smile on her face when she saw the two Uchiha's looking at her. It made the eldest brother very aware of just _why_ he was still reluctant to follow his parents' plans to become a doctor.

Gently examining Sasuke's arm she directed them to sit down and promised to bump them up the waiting list a little, since a broken arm was generally considered to be somewhat more important than some of the minor injuries in the room. Itachi thanked her and led his now-sulking brother over to two chairs that had their backs to the wall.

Sasuke slumped moodily into his seat, picking at the light sling the nurse had placed his arm in. The prospect of having to wait at least two hours wasn't filling him with a sense of joy. He glared as Itachi picked up one of the waiting-room magazines and began reading, completely unconcerned with their present situation.

About three quarters of an hour had passed, and Sasuke had actually dozed off, when there was a sudden loud buzzing that made him jump violently and stare around wildly. Next to him Itachi grumbled something and dropped his magazine to fish his mobile out of his pocket. Staring at the caller-ID he frowned.

"I've got to take this call, I'll be back soon."

"Whatever."

Itachi left the room and walked back out of the building to his car. The no-phones policy of hospitals was very understandable and all, but when raining it was very annoying. Sitting down inside his car he turned the radiator on and answered the call.

"Hello?" A shrill voice hit his ear and he had to hold the handset slightly away from his head. "Uh...Mum, I can explain..."

MWMWMWMWMWMMWMWMWMWWMMW

"Okay, I'm officially bored now." Sasori groaned, throwing his book down onto the floor and lying back on the sofa. "I'm sick of demons already."

"Well tough." Konan peered over the top of her laptop, where she was scanning multiple Wikipedia articles. "None of us have a clue what we're doing so the best thing we can do is research."

"Easy for you to say, I can see the solitaire game you've got going!"

The girl flushed and closed her game so that endless lines of text took over the page. "This is beginning to make my eyes hurt." She turned away from the computer screen to survey the rest of the room.

The group had, as per usual, congregated at her and Pein's house, and were spread around the living room. Sasori had bagged the entire two-seater sofa as he sprawled across it, throwing a book from hand to hand. Pein was sitting on the window-sill, scanning a printout Kisame had got from the library on the novel _Faust_ whilst Kisame himself was sat next to Kakuzu on the second sofa, immersed in some dreary looking tome – again from the library. Deidara and Hidan occupied the scruffy beanbags that leaked polystyrene balls across the carpet. From her vantage point at the table Konan winced at the thought of hoovering them all up afterwards.

"This hardly seems a productive use of our time when we could be out looking for the thing." Kakuzu grumbled in his heavy accent. "Or out doing anything for that matter. Research isn't exactly _us_, is it?"

"Speak for yourself." Hidan waved his own book at the man. "I'm having fun at any rate!"

Kakuzu raised an incredulous eye-brow. "You're reading the _Bible_! How is that fun?"

"Are you _kidding_?!" The albino flicked the pages in his friend's face. "Revelations! It's all torture, doom, gloom and despair, what's not to love?" He hastily found the page he'd been on. "Here, listen to this: 'and anyone whose name was not found in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.' Cool huh?"

"If you believe the apparent torture of humans to be cool." Deidara said scornfully. "Besides all the hell-fire stuff have you found anything _useful_ in there?"

Hidan looked confused for a moment. "Well, I guess. If someone claims to be the next Messiah we'll know they're actually the Antichrist." He said hopefully.

"I said; _useful_."

"No." The albino looked down at the book dejectedly for a second, then his grin came back. "Unless we see someone with 666 or 616 tattooed on their forehead. Both are accepted translations. Apparently the beast will rise and slap it on all the unworthy's heads. It's like the most extreme happy-slapping _ever_!"

"Uh _huh_." Deidara was looking less and less convinced. "So besides Satan's love for quirky tattoos, anything else?"

Hidan started to reply, but Pein cut across him;

"Satan isn't the beast." He stated, without looking up from the wedge of paper he held. "The beast is a fallen angel called Abaddon."

There was silence as the rest of the room stared at him. Hidan reread the page he was on then looked up again.

"Yeah. How the hell did you know that?"

Pein glared at him. "Maybe you should allow for the fact that I may be slightly smarter than I look, and am therefore able to read."

Hidan shrugged. "Whatever, man." He looked back at his book and tried to find his place again in the small text. As with nearly all Bibles the font was absolutely miniscule and he was having to squint to read the foot-notes. "Why do I even care what the original Greek said? Or the Hebrew translation?" He held up the book in one hand and raised his other arm dramatically above his head. "Elohim ze ha ahava!"

"And that meant what exactly?" Konan asked the question everyone else in the room was dying to know.

"'God is the thing that is love.'"

"In _what_?"

Hidan casually flicked trough a few more pages, an arrogant grin surfacing on his face. "Hebrew." He looked up at all his friends. "What?"

Sasori coughed delicately. "You know Hebrew?" The tone in which he said it made it abundantly clear that the group considered Hidan to be thicker than two short planks and to find he knew anything of another language when he could only just speak his own came as a surprise.

"Not entirely. Just a phrase here and there." The albino threw his book up in the air and caught it, looking insufferably smug. "My Dad thought it was a good idea to teach me the names of God in the Biblical languages when I was a kid. That's vicars for you." He threw and caught the book again. "Elohim, Adonai, Jehovah, Theos, Christ –"

"There's no need to show off." Pein snapped irritably.

"-Jesus, Messiah, El-Olam, Yeshua, Jesu, Elah, Deus, Sarcalogos, Emmanuel, Nuntius –"

"_Shut up_!!!" The book went flying from Hidan's hands with no visible means of propulsion. He raised his startled gaze to see Pein towering over him, fists clenched in anger.

"His eyes!" Konan was no longer sitting in her chair and had her hands over her mouth in horror as she stared at her brother. "It's in _him_!"

The gaze of everyone in the room was focussed on Pein as he glared around at them all, his eyes glowing a ferocious red. He raised a hand and Hidan's Bible exploded, throwing up a cloud of papery fragments. Hidan stared at the remains of the book in horror, knowing damn well that he couldn't remember any portion of the scriptures that could deal with demons.

"I did tell you to shut up." Pein hissed. He was visibly shaking; perhaps due to anger, perhaps due to the stream of holy names Hidan had accidently fired at him. Raising his head the possessed man glared around at the frightened occupants of the room, a feral snarl on his face. Hidan and Deidara, the two nearest to the demon, scrambled backwards as the red gaze flickered in their general direction.

"You lot are pathetic!" Pein laughed, spinning around so that the host's black trench coat flapped out like wings. "Without that dark-haired dude you're as scared as rabbits!" He cast his gaze around the room again. "Look at you! He's dropped you right in it hasn't he? Not _one_ of know has a clue what you're doing. All your fancy articles and books and –" He glanced at Hidan and sneered, "- Bibles, you still don't know what the hell to do." He looked up and focused on Konan, who had backed up against the table, pale and trembling as she returned his gaze. "Don't you want to play chase across the roof this time, girlie?"

The young woman lowered her hands from her mouth, shaking as she tried to reply.

"Get the hell out of my brother." It was a small whisper, but resolute and she stood her ground.

The demon laughed. "Now why would I do that? This day has been so much _fun_! I'm not going to just leave because a little girl wants me to." He advanced on her, eyes glinting wickedly. "And you needn't think about reaching for your mobile, my blonde friend." He added, as behind him Deidara had done just that. "I think you'll find none of you can get a signal right now." He turned his attention back to Konan. "Which means calling for the cavalry isn't an option." His hand, the nails elongated to claws, reached out to grasp her shoulder.

"Oi! Get your slimy possessed hands off of her!" Hidan yelled furiously. He grabbed the nearest thing to hand – a scrap of leather binding from the remains of his Bible – and hurled it at the demon. It struck the being on the back of the neck, and against all probability raised cloud of steam and the smell of burning flesh as it did so.

Pein howled with anger, spinning round to face a very startled Hidan.

"I didn't realise it would do that..." The albino scrambled backwards as the demon advanced on him, sharp teeth bared and eyes flashing in fury. The cross from the front of the book's cover had left a deep burn on the host's neck, and the demon seemed to be feeing the pain that was technically inflicted upon its stolen body.

"You're going to regret that!"

Hidan had backed into the video cabinet, and grinned weakly when he realised that he was cornered.

"Can we talk about this perhaps?"

The demon snarled and raised a hand. A bright glow swiftly expanded in his palm and burst into flame. His cornered victim let out a yelp, and there were similar cries of horror from the rest of the group.

"No, we can't." The demon threw the fire ball.

Hidan shrieked and threw his arms up to cover his head. Despite this meagre protection he knew that the flames would easily do some serious damage and was fully expecting the searing agony that was to come.

He was surprised.

After about a second or so, during which it occurred to him that he should have experienced some sort of pain, he slowly lowered his arms and raised his head.

The fire ball had flattened itself against a transparent – if not invisible – wall about two centimetres infront of his nose. As he watched, mouth open and emitting little whimpering sounds, the flames winked out of existence. Slowly the albino looked up at the demon.

Pein had turned away from his intended victim, fury etched across his possessed face as he glared at the source of the protective barrier that hung in the air between him and Hidan.

Behind the demon Deidara was standing with both hands out, palms up and eyes closed in concentration. The faintly shimmering wall was originating from his fingers, but it began to waver and die as he opened his eyes to see the demon's glare laid on him.

"Uh..." The blonde dropped his hands and the barrier vanished as Pein stalked towards him. "In my defence I have no idea how I just did that."

"Well you did it, and now I'm _really_ pissed off!" The demon was practically spitting acid by this point. His red eyes gleamed furiously as he raised his clawed hands and began hissing out incomprehensible syllables. A green light began to build up around him as he spat out the words of the spell, his gaze never leaving Deidara.

"Oi, Satan-spawn, over here!"

The demon spun back round – proving the fact that his attention span was slightly shorter than that of a dead mayfly – ready to strike at the person who had heckled him.

Hidan was back on his feet, a cocky grin plastered on his face and his huge water pistol in his hands, the reservoir pumped until the pressure was forcing water out of the joints. The moment his possessed friend was facing him he released the valve.

The demon screamed as the blessed water hit him full in the chest. Steam rose up from every point where it made contact with his skin and he clawed ineffectively at his dripping coat.

"_Pein!_" Konan shrieked as her brother twisted and turned on the spot, howling as if he'd been dunked in concentrated acid.

Then, without warning and taking the small group by surprise the demon suddenly shot out of its host with an angry cry. It's large pupil-less eyes glared at the terrified friends before it diffused back into nothingness and Pein crumpled to the floor.

There was silence through the room. The swiftness of the appearance, fight and dispersal of the demon had stunned them – no one had expected to have to face such a thing without the knowledgeable Itachi there. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

The stunned hush was broken by a faint whistling sound and the group turned to see Hidan blowing over the nozzle of his water pistol like one would over the barrel of a smoking gun. He looked round at them all and winked cheekily.

"Who you gonna call?!"

The well-known quote caused the tense atmosphere disperse, and both Sasori and Deidara chuckled weakly. Kakuzu – not getting the reference – just nodded.

"Pein? Pein, my God, are you alright?!" Konan was kneeling beside her brother, and her worried cry drew the others attention.

"Yeah, are you okay?" Hidan dropped his water pistol, now quite conscious that he'd just soaked his best friend to the bone.

"I'll live." Pein growled, pushing his sister away. "Kon, get off me, I'm _fine_!" He carefully pulled himself to his feet and inspected his dripping trench-coat. "Thanks Hidan, this cost nearly a hundred quid!" There was a hard smack to the back of his head and he spun round defensively. "What was that for?!"

"For being an arsehole!" Konan shouted back. "You get possessed by a _demon_ and all you can worry about is your fucking coat?" She slapped him again, but with very little real force, before hugging him tightly. "You scared me!"

Pein gingerly hugged her back, silently daring his friends to laugh. As it was every face he gazed at was just full of relief and – in Hidan's case – guilt. He let his sister go and pulled his dripping coat off. In doing so the collar caught the raised burn on the back of his neck.

"Ah, _shit_!" He craned round to see what the mark looked like before giving in and peering over his shoulder at the mirror. A neat little cross was branded against the back of his neck – slightly askew and a little off centre. "Thanks Hidan."

"Hey, how was I to know it would do that?"

"And it does look kinda cool." Sasori added.

Pein frowned at his reflection, turning his head this way and that to see the mark from all angles. "Well, I suppose I'll save money by not getting the tattoo I was going to put there."

"You are a complete idiot!" Konan shrieked. "Is that all you can think about?!" Her brother stared at her blankly and she smacked him again. "_You were possessed!!! And all you can think about is your looks?!" _

He shrugged innocently – an emotion which did not suit his persona. To be fair to him, Pein was royally freaked out, but as a gang leader he couldn't exactly let all his friends know that right now all he wanted to do was huddle in a corner shivering. He opted for giving Konan a cheesy grin and put his arm round her shoulders.

"Everything's okay now Kon, stop worrying so much."

She batted him off. "_Okay_? Then tell me, Oh brother mine, where's it gone now?"

A chilly silence overpowered the relieved atmosphere as the teens looked at each other uneasily.

"It could be in any one of us..." Pein said slowly. "It can mimic its host too well. Until it got bored you couldn't tell me from it could you?"

Hidan hefted his water gun again. "I bet I can find the sucker!" He aimed at Sasori, who promptly threw himself behind the sofa. "Come on, a little Holy Water won't hurt you if you aren't possessed!"

"It's November and that water is cold!"

Kisame leaned over Hidan and snatched the water gun out of his hands. "None of us want pneumonia, Hidan."

The albino spun round and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "It's in you, you've practically admitted it!"

"It's not in any of us, Hidan." Deidara was standing in the middle of the room, calmly running down the list of names in his mobile's contact's menu. When he realised the others were staring at him he shrugged. "It's kind of obvious. I can't imagine that that thing is stupid, and therefore it must have known if it went directly from Pein into someone else in this room then it would be immediately found again. Ergo, it's gone off somewhere else." He found the number he was looking for and hit the little call button. "I'm going to tell Itachi what happened."

He turned away from his friends as the phone began to ring, blocking out their sudden increase in chatter with his free hand. There was a small interval before the line was picked up.

"_Deidara? What's wrong?_" Itachi was as abrupt and to the point as ever. "_Have you guys found something?_"

"Found and lost." Deidara sighed heavily. "This sounds crazy, but it was in Pein."

"_WHAT?!_"

"Yeah, that was our reaction too."

"_So what's happened? Is anyone hurt? Where is it now?"_

"Well, we don't know where it is now....But it's not here anymore. Hidan used that water pistol of his and it ran for it."

"_Why doesn't that surprise me?" _Itachi sighed heavily. "_Okay, I'll be there ASAP. Sasuke's out of surgery and Mum's here now so I'm free to go."_

"Sure thing." He snapped the phone closed. "Looks like now we wait."

MWMWMWMWWMMWMWMWM

ASAP. It's a bastard of a phrase since it can mean _anything_! As it was, Itachi took nearly 45 minutes to get there – far longer than expected. He came running into the main room (Pein had never got the hang of locking the side door) only to find his friends sprawled out quite happily on the sofas, all re-immersed in their books. Feeling slightly stupid at how he'd run in like some sort of super-hero, when it was obvious the group had easily taken care of the problem he headed over to Pein.

"And watch as the native ghost-hunter returns," Hidan suddenly spoke out, twisting his words to have a faulty Australian accent. "Sniffing around the watering hole he carefully approaches the alpha-male, uncertain as to how he should react, wary for lingering demons and – OW!" He broke off his commentary with a yelp as Itachi's heavy bag landed on top of him.

"Ok someone explain what the hell I missed." Itachi stated coldly.

That took some time. Konan, with help (or hindrance, to be a little more accurate) from Hidan, went through the story of what had occurred only an hour or so before. There were a few interruptions from Pein at certain points, when his sister somewhat embellished the danger they'd been in, but the essential account was pretty much what had happened.

Itachi had a quick look at the brand on Pein's neck – not that there was a thing he could do about it – and agreed with Deidara's assessment that the demon had probably high-tailed it out of there. Looking around he realised that the whole group were watching him with 'now what do we do?' expressions, and it took a moment for that to sink in.

After years of working alone since returning to England he suddenly remembered what it was like to have a group of people that were not only willing to help, but _capable_ too. This little band of drug addicts and misfits had just fought off a demon and still looked to him for what the next step would be. People who, up until a few months ago, didn't even _believe_ in such things were now calmly explaining how they'd used a water gun to exorcise someone. It was a little overwhelming.

Turning – as he always seemed to do now – to Deidara for help in this unexpected social situation it occurred to Itachi that the blonde hadn't spoken up much.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, giving his friend a gentle nudge to get his attention. "I would have thought you'd be completely ecstatic after doing that mental shield. You've barely said a word."

Deidara looked up from picking the loose skin around his finger-nails and smiled slightly, flicking his hair out of his face.

"Yeah, sorry. I'm a little freaked out to tell the truth." He said quietly. "It's one thing accidently cursing someone, but another thing entirely to produce a visible barrier out of thin air." He shrugged. "Give me another half an hour to get over the shock and then I'll be bouncing off walls."

"But it was _amazing_!!" Hidan went into another recount of exactly how the fire-ball had flattened against the shield and then his Ghostbusters cameo with the water-gun. Sasori smacked him round the head to shut him up.

"So, now what do we do?" The red-head asked. "It's buggered off again."

Itachi nodded. "But this time I know what I'm doing. As I said – I spoke to two American's who sent me some rather useful information on how to track and trap this thing. I'll need to go home and get some stuff though." He looked around. "Okay, Dei, you come with me, you guys-"

"Say 'do more research' and I'm gonna get Biblical on your ass!" Hidan snapped.

The Uchiha stared at him blankly, trying to work out what the threat actually entailed. Then he mentally shrugged – it didn't really matter, a threat is a threat. "I was actually going to say 'take a break'."

"Drinking time!" Pein did a triumphant air-punch that drew Itachi's condescending gaze.

"I hardly think this is an appropriate time to become inebriated." The Uchiha stated primly.

The group leader glared at him. "Au contraire. I've just been possessed by a demon, and it was _not_ pleasant. I'm owed a drink or forty!"

There was a general agreement around the room and Itachi decided it was probably better to just let them. And besides; maybe being drunk would make it harder to be possessed – you never knew.

"Fine. You do as you wish, I'm going to go back and set up a few things that will help with the catching of our demon. Dei, are you coming with me or staying here?"

Deidara raised his head again. "I'll come with you, I couldn't handle alcohol right now." He stood up and the two left their friends cracking open a crate of lager.

Typical of the winter-time it had grown dark outside and frost had already covered Itachi's car as he unlocked it. The engine took slightly longer than normal to start, and the Uchiha swore at it until the familiar purring filled the air.

"So," Deidara said as they pulled out of the drive. "How the hell are you intending to find this thing?"

MWMWMWMWMMWMWW

**Until next time........^_^**


	6. Chapter 6

**I can't say how sorry I am for how long it's been…**

_Typical of the winter-time it had grown dark outside and frost had already covered Itachi's car as he unlocked it. The engine took slightly longer than normal to start, and the Uchiha swore at it until the familiar purring filled the air._

"_So," Deidara said as they pulled out of the drive. "How the hell are you intending to find this thing?"_

MWMWMWMWMMWMWMWW

"There are a few Latin spells I can try which the Americans' assured me would work." Itachi said thoughtfully. "However, they require some ritualistic items before I can use them." He caught Deidara's uneasy look and laughed. "Don't worry, it's not going to be anything sinister like Hollywood makes these things out to be, I'll just need some basics – salt, chalk, charcoal, the usual."

"And you have those to hand?"

"They're basic necessities – no paranormal researcher would be without them."

A small smile grew on Deidara's face. "You mean no _Ghost Hunter_ would be without them." He teased, chuckling quietly at his companions frown.

"You know I don't like that term."

"Exactly why I use it as often as possible"

Itachi glanced over at his friend as the blonde went back to watching the road ahead of them. "Do you want to talk about what happened?" He asked quietly. This had never been a strong point of his – trying to talk out people's problems – but it was apparently still bothering Deidara. "You don't appear to have fully realised what you did."

"I saved Hidan. The how is immaterial."

The curious choice of phrasing made Itachi sigh. "Deidara, it isn't good to bottle up your feelings if you're scared by what you can do. Talk to me, I've been through this too, remember?"

The blonde ran a hand through his dishevelled hair. "Yeah I know, just give me some time, 'kay?"

"Well, the ritual will take a while so we can talk then." The Uchiha conceded.

Deidara brightened up a little at the reminder of what they were about to do. "So, what's going to happen? You said it was nothing like Hollywood portrays it."

They were pulling up onto the drive and Itachi parked the car and switched the engine off before turning to his friend. "It's not going to be all that impressive. I need to draw out some symbols, burn some special incense and then it's just a Latin chant."

"That's it? I can't really see how that calls up a _demon_ of all things."

"Neither can I but I was assured that it will."

They left the car and entered the house, Itachi calling out to see if anyone was home. There was no answer and since the hallway was devoid of shoes and coats it was pretty obvious that they had the place to themselves for the next few hours. Probably a good thing too in the Uchiha's mind, since burning incense usually made it necessary to turn off all the fire alarms first, which his Mother was never very happy about. He quickly stole the table-salt from the kitchen cupboard then they made their way up to his bedroom.

"So, how do you go about this then?" Deidara asked cheerfully.

"First of all I just need to check something."

"Check what?"

Itachi turned to face him, a small and somewhat sad smile on his face. "Just take a step forwards please."

The blonde frowned but did as he was told. Or at least he tried to. He rebounded back as if from an invisible wall, a look of shock crossing his face.

"Itachi? What are you doing?"

"You know exactly what I'm doing." The Uchiha's gaze darted to the ceiling and Deidara's followed to what he was looking at.

"Oh..." Directly above the blonde's head were two neatly drawn concentric circles – maybe a metre or so across – with esoteric symbols sitting within the space between them, and a similarly decorated five-point star in the middle. Deidara experimentally tried to take a step backwards from the large diagram, only to hit the same invisible wall as before.

"You can't step out from the circle's perimeter." Itachi said calmly.

"Yes, I know." Deidara shook his head with a small chuckle. "Well played, I didn't expect this of you." His eyes bled crimson as he grinned at the other male. "And I thought I'd been so clever – hiding here when everyone expected me to flee." The demon nodded up at the circles. "Those American's: the Winchesters I presume?" At Itachi's nod he rolled his eyes. "Thought I recognised the handiwork."

"You know of them?"

"I think every member of my entire species knows of those two!"

Itachi didn't know the brothers well enough to understand the comment, so brushed it aside.

"So, what do intend to do with me?" The demon asked, tilting its head to one side in question.

"An exorcism."

"A little cliché don't you think?"

"If it gets you out of my best friend I don't care how cliché I have to be." Itachi's eyes flashed furiously.

The demon giggled – a very strange noise considering to all intents and purposes it appeared to be coming from Deidara. "That's so _cute_! How did you even guess I was here anyway? It's not like I'd been very obvious."

"It was the little things that gave you away." Itachi folded his arms with a scowl. "You asked how _I_ was going to sort this out, not _we_, and Deidara would be over the moon about the defence barrier – not in shock."

"Yeah, I knew I was taking a gamble there." The demon shrugged light-heartedly. Its red gaze followed Itachi as the Uchiha pulled out a plastic wallet with a crisp sheet of A4 inside it. "What's that?"

Itachi glanced up and gave a curious little half-smile. "It's something your American friends claimed works every time." He shook the document. "Latin exorcism chant."

The demon's eyes narrowed. "Hey, steady on, there's no need for _that_! It's not like I'm doing any harm!"

"You're possessing my best friend, and whether you are hurting him or not, I can't let it continue."

"What a noble sentiment."

Itachi just arched an eye-brow before focussing his gaze on the paper. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas – "

"Okay, you've made your point! Now can't we talk about this like civilised people?"

"You aren't a person. Omnis incursio infernalis adversarii,– "

"We can make a deal, I can be of help to you!" The demon was twitching like a drug addict who needed a hit, scratching at his arms and glaring at the Uchiha.

"I highly doubt that. Omnis legio, omnis Ongregatio– "

"_Stop it_!" Deidara's body had fallen to its knees, and the demon was struggling to keep his composure. "You're hurting him as much as you're hurting me you know!"

"I can live with that." But a flicker of doubt had flashed across Itachi's face. He wasn't up to speed with demon exorcisms and didn't know what the effects of this one would be on Deidara. The fact that he'd received the spell from the Winchester brothers of all people didn't cement his faith in it; those two were known for leaving a trail of bodies behind them. However, his tiny pause seemed to give the demon hope.

"I can hear him begging you to stop, you know." It hissed. "He's stuck in here with me and he's screaming in pain."

"I don't believe you."

"Can you really afford to take that chance?"

Again there was the tiniest of pauses. Did he want to take that chance? It was a tough call. He couldn't allow that thing to stay inside Deidara, yet Itachi would never hurt his friend either.

"Do you really want to just throw away the relationship the two of you have now?" The creature hissed. "After finding him and finally becoming such close friends can you really afford to hurt him?"

"He knows this is necessary." Itachi said firmly. "Et secta diabolica, in-"

"_He likes you, you know that, right_?" The demon was hissing through its teeth, pain and fury etched on its borrowed face.

"Of course he likes me, he's my friend."

"You know damn well I don't mean in that sense!"

Itachi paused, which gave the creature time to struggle back to its feet.

"He's been pining after you for _months_!"

"It's in your nature to lie to me; I'm hardly going to believe a pathetic story like that." The Uchiha tried to refocus his attention but the demon cut across him again.

"Why would I need to lie with ammunition like this? Didn't you ever wonder? Did it not occur to you just how much he was hanging around with you?"

Itachi turned his attention back to the script he held, trying to block out the nuisance. Of course Deidara hung out with him, they were _friends_. Something the demon obviously couldn't get its head round. And besides, of all the stupid stories it could have come up with, it was overly obvious and cliché to pick on Deidara's sexuality.

Clearing his throat he tried to find his place in the thick block of Latin text again.

"Uh, omnis legio, omnis Ongregatio..."

"You've already done that bit." The demon was grinning – teeth gritted – but grinning and obviously taking the brief moment's confusion to regain strength. "Not too good at this are you?"

Itachi stared at the printout in horror, unsure of where he had left off, and whether or not he could go back to that spot – if it was possible to find it – or needed to restart the whole thing.

"I..."

"Dear, oh dear. Things not going the way you'd planned?" The smile on Deidara's face didn't fit. It floated, quite obviously not an expression that he should ever wear. "Maybe you should have practiced this a few times first. Y'know, _memorised_ it perhaps?" He folded his arms, his stance becoming cocky. "And isn't it my turn now? After all, you've thrown a load of Latin at me, surely I should return the favour."

"You can't leave that circle." Itachi stated coldly, his voice never once betraying how worried he was at the sudden down-hill turn of events.

The demon laughed, eyes flashing and showing pointed canines. "So? Why should that bother me?" He raised an eyebrow in a mocking question, tilting his head to one side. "Your American buddies sure let you down boy." Spreading his arms wide the demon threw his head back to stare up at the trap on the ceiling. "_Stultus sentiarn mortale iram, ira cogi in obsequium_!"

Itachi sucked in a shocked breath, taking an involuntary step backwards from the inscribed circle and pentagram as the diagram above the demon's head lit with a fierce orange glow.

"What...?" The Uchiha spun around as his laptop – turned off the last time he'd checked – began playing overly loud pop-music. He moved to switch it off only to stop dead in his tracks when his iPod began to blare out the same tune, despite not having its speakers plugged in. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Proving a point."

"And Lady Gaga is your idea of a decent music choice?"

The demon smirked. "Bad Romance – I thought it fitting for poor little Deidara here since he has no hope with you at all." He waved his hand around at the room. "And I needed a chaotic song for a chaotic ass-kicking. What can I say? Possessing an artist is rubbing off on me!"

Itachi stared around wildly as the main ceiling light and three desk lamps began to flash on and off like strobe lights and his alarm clock added its ring to the growing cacophony of noise. Clamping the exorcism chant under one arm he grabbed up one of the many books on his desk and leafed through it hurriedly, trying to reach the desired page.

"Book worm are we?"

The volume went flying out of his hands.

"Whoops!" The grin on Deidara's face was feral. "Sorry, let me get that for you."

The Uchiha ducked, trying to shield his head as the full collection of books and scrolls on his shelves were thrown up into the air and pelted at him. Snarling he spun to face the demon, one hand outstretched in front of him.

"_Ewch yn awr i beth bynnag uffern yn eich disgwyl!_"

The creature – much to his dismay – just laughed. "I don't even know what you just said! Is that what you use on poltergeists or something? Here, this is how you do it," He waved his hands around theatrically. "_Laborem et mahemium invocavi!_"

An audible rattling sounded over the blaring music and Itachi looked up. "_Shit_!"

His wakizashi and katana were shaking on their display stand, pulling themselves out of their sheaths. For most sword collectors this wouldn't be too much of an issue – display swords were just pretty pieces of decoration with blunt edges, and the only problem would be trying to avoid the weight of the metal. Itachi, however, didn't have this luxury; his weren't display replicas. Both weapons were cleaned, polished and sharpened daily, they were _dangerous_.

"Simon says _duck_!" The demon crowed with delight as the wakizashi came free and flew at the Uchiha, who leapt to one side to avoid it. "How fast do you think you are?" Deidara's theatrical arm-waving grew more refined as the demon began to purposefully direct the weapon, cackling like a mad thing.

Itachi ducked again as the blade flew over is head, then reached up and pulled his now-still katana free. Eyes focused on the circling wakizashi he carefully moved into a defensive stance.

"Ooh! This is just like a samurai film!" The demon actually clapped its hands in delight. "Don't tell me you actually know how to use that?"

"Of course." Itachi's voice was cold. "Now I suggest you stop this right now, or things will go ill for you."

"How so? You can't do anything!"

The Uchiha deflected the attack as the small blade hummed through the air towards him, and sent it spinning off to stick in the wooden door of his wardrobe.

"Plus..." The demon added thoughtfully. "You're haemophilic. I only have to get lucky once, you have to be lucky every single time. One little nick and you're in trouble."

"I'm assuming that you don't know much about modern medicine; I've been taking clotting-factor supplements."

As the demon struggled to pull the wakizashi out of the wardrobe, Itachi cast his gaze around his wrecked room. A growing water-stain on one of his books drew is attention and he hurriedly kicked the book aside to find a litre bottle of water slowly leaking. Not just any water either.

_Holy water. _

Instincts took a quick hold as the wakizashi came free and sliced through the air towards Itachi's head, and he blocked it easily – all those traditional fighting lessons with Madara had paid off. Before the small blade could arc back around he stretched his hand out towards the bottle of water and with a quick burst of concentration sent it flying directly into the demon's chest.

The creature screamed, falling to its knees and curling over into a tight ball of agony as the bottle burst on impact and soaked it.

"_Allan budr silio o dywyllwch. Gadewch a dychwelyd i beidio â lle hwn lle nad ydych yn cael eu croesawu__!_" Itachi saw the opportunity and seized it. Lowering his sword and stretching out one hand to the immobilised creature he cast the sign for soul-entrapment and called out to his friend. True, Deidara was hardly going to be able to understand the language he used, but that didn't matter since the spell accompanying it was universal, and that was the bit which mattered.

For a brief moment nothing seemed to have happened and he had a sudden flash of dread – if this didn't work he was completely out of ideas! – before the creature began to scream again.

Sixth sense and instinct saw the Uchiha ducking just as there was a burst of raw energy from the trapped demon that arced across the room and scorched the empty bookshelf. He rolled onto his stomach and peered over the edge of his low desk just in time for a second pulse to neatly fly over his head.

"Shit!" He glanced back over his shoulder - momentarily worried about starting a house fire as the bolt earthed itself in a stack of paper-work – then grabbed up the fallen exorcism sheet again, scanning hurriedly to find a sentence that at least looked vaguely familiar that he could use as a starting point. Glancing up he swore again as the demon pulled itself to its feet, legs shaking with the effort. _Why did none of the damn text make any sense!_ Panic made an unfamiliar and unwelcome appearance as he watched the creature stretch out an arm, gritting its teeth against the obvious pain and difficulty that came with the movement.

"Get the fuck out of my body!"

Itachi's mouth fell open.

The demon had been using Deidara's voice anyway, but now the mannerisms were back and the red eyes swirled into furious blue.

"I mean it, you bastard! _Out_!"

The poltergeist expelling charm the Uchiha had cast had obviously done some good then, as the demon struggled against its host for control. The broiling orange mist that still shrouded the pentagram on the ceiling broke up and dispersed whilst at the same time the blaring music suddenly stopped and the various electronic devices in the room quietly shut themselves down again.

"_Allan budr silio o dywyllwch. Gadewch a dychwelyd i beidio â lle hwn lle nad ydych yn cael eu croesawu__!_" Now that he knew it worked, Itachi cast the spell again, this time with his usual confidence and strength. With such power behind it, the charm was almost a physical blow and the demon reeled back, hands flying to its throat.

"Out!" Deidara's voice was choked and he suddenly doubled up with a sharp cry, as if an invisible fist had hit him in the stomach.

"The hell…?" Horror filled the Uchiha as his friend was thrown back, only to hit the invisible field caused by the pentagram. His expertise knew nothing of this scenario and he could only watch in dismay – not even sure if his help would escalate the situation or not. The internal struggle between demon and host was something beyond his comprehension.

"_Bastard_…" Blue eyes flashed red again as the demon momentarily gained the upper hand, before Deidara ruthlessly fought it back. "Get the fuck out of me!" The blonde spat the order through clenched teeth, hands clawing at his stomach before he doubled over again. "Out! _NOW!"_

There was a noiseless implosion of light.

Itachi – attuned to the energies flying around – felt the sudden suction as all the power in the immediate vicinity was suddenly sucked into the humming circle below the pentagram and he fell heavily to his knees, shielding his eyes. There was a brief scream, a substantial thud and then…silence.

After the cacophony that had been destroying his room it was a silence that spoke volumes.

Then, very quietly and very shakily a small voice cut through the ringing left behind by the harsh vacuum of power.

"Ow…"

Itachi slowly lowered his hand to look up, then gaped in astonishment.

Opposite him, slumped against his wardrobe, Deidara held his stomach gingerly with a grimace of pain across his face. More than that though, the place which had held the blonde only moments ago was still occupied.

A familiar blue shape hung in the air, twisting gently as it stared between its previous host and its opponent. Well, they had to assume that it was staring – the almond shaped eyes were no longer evident, and despite the hostile aura Itachi couldn't hear a single word uttered.

"It's pissed." Deidara's voice was strained as he raised his head to look up at it, reminding Itachi that the blonde had been the only one to hear it initially.

"Are you ok-"

"Just get rid of it!"

The Uchiha was taken aback at the harsh tone, but realised that if Deidara _could_ hear the thing then it was highly likely that it wasn't being very friendly. Scanning his wrecked room he caught sight of the print-out of the exorcism chant. Hopefully without a host to shield it the demon wouldn't be as immune.

This time the chant was uninterrupted, or at least it was to him – he could see Deidara wincing and could only imagine how much the damn thing was screaming. The flow of Latin was confident now as he threw the charms at the creature, unlike his uncertainty before. With his friend no longer held hostage he didn't have to care about overkill with the results of the exorcism. The whole chant took far less time to complete than it had originally – due to both his self-assurance and familiarity with the language.

His eyes glued to the page, Itachi missed how the demon reacted, but Deidara was watching with a malicious glare. As the Latin rolled around it the creature was writhing wildly, its cloak-like body twisting in on itself. The blonde could hear the screams echoing inside his head, and as loud as they were to him he refused to turn away – he was pissed off enough with the damn thing to see this through.

And then it was over.

Itachi finished the last sentence and with a final shriek of fury the demon curled in on itself, shrinking into a pin-prick of light that then vanished, leaving only the smoking symbols inscribed into the ceiling.

"Bloody hell…" The Uchiha ran a hand through his tangled hair, staring around his destroyed room, before allowing his gaze to rest on his friend. "Are you alright?"

"Just peachy." Deidara growled, trying to pull himself up whilst maintaining the arm wrapped tightly around his waist. "That hurt like a _bitch!"_ He looked around, then back at Itachi. "You know your desk is on fire, right?"

The Uchiha swore, grabbing the bottle of holy water and quickly throwing what was left over the small pile of smouldering paper-work. It wasn't important, thankfully, but house-fires are never fun. He turned back to see Deidara on his knees and trying to stand.

"Oh no you don't!" He quickly made his way through the mess to firmly force the blonde to sit down again.

"I'm fine!"

"Like hell you are."

Deidara was pale; maybe even enough to say ashen, and Itachi recognised shock when he saw it. The blonde's shirt was still sopping wet and had a large burn mark down the front where the holy water had made contact, which corresponded with the scald that now marred his chest. On top of that was the obvious pain he seemed to be experiencing from fighting with the demon inside his own body – possibly fractured ribs from how carefully he was holding himself, and Itachi was willing to put money on a thumping headache too. The energy that had been sucked into Deidara's body during the fight had been immense and it was going to take some time for the after-effects to fade away.

"Don't feel so good."

"You don't look so good." Itachi couldn't help the quip, and it worried him all the more when his friend didn't even glare at him for it. If anything Deidara was growing paler…"Shit! Head between your knees Dei!"

"Huh…?" The blonde wasn't coherent enough to question the sudden gentle pressure to the back of his skull that insistently pushed him forwards until he was staring in confusion at his own stomach. Well, at the arm around his stomach at any rate. A few moments passed before his head cleared enough for him to push Itachi's hand off and slowly uncurl, realising now that everything was in sharper focus.

"Better?"

"Yeah…" He ran a shaking hand through his hair. "What just happened…?"

"You're in minor shock. Lowering your head beneath your heart allowed gravity to help the blood flow and prevented you from losing consciousness." The Uchiha supplied.

"…Come again?"

"You were about to faint."

Deidara nodded slowly – that at least had made sense. He stared around the room again, this time able to take in the details.

The place looked like a bomb-site, not helped in the least by the wakizashi embedded in the mattress of Itachi's rolled up futon. The pile of paper that had been on fire was still smoking, and the curtains were torn so that patchy street-lighting filtered in and highlighted the mess of papers, books, scrolls and random paraphernalia that was scattered around the room.

The blonde stared wide-eyed at the destruction before turning back to look at his friend with a look of shock.

"Uh, sorry about the mess."

Itachi glanced ruefully at the destruction. "It was hardly your fault."

"Yeah, but still…." Deidara shook his head in disbelief then winced again as the movement jarred his pounding headache. "I don't suppose you have any aspirin…?" He asked hopefully.

"I'm haemophiliac, I'm hardly going to keep a known blood thinner around." The Uchiha stood up again and picked his way through the debris to a small cupboard against the wall that was mostly unscathed. Fishing around inside he withdrew a small blister pack. "Is paracetamol any good?"

"Right now anything that promises pain relief is good."

Whilst Deidara gulped down a couple of tablets and tried to reorientate himself, Itachi pulled his wakizashi free and quickly inspected the blade. Luckily it wasn't nicked – which he'd been worried about – and he slipped it back into its sheath on the display stand. The katana also proved to have stood up to the challenge nicely and he returned it with a small glow of pride that his weapons were still up to scratch. Pity about the rest of his room really…

"You weren't hurt by one of those were you?"

He glanced over his shoulder at Deidara and grinned at the worry on his friend's face. "My uncle forced me to train with those things every single day after I started living with him. It would have had to be a _very_ good demon to be able to beat me with one."

"Guess so…" The blonde still looked ill at ease as he carefully pulled himself to his feet. "I feel like this is all my fault."

"How could it be? You weren't in control of that thing."

Deidara shrugged helplessly, hugging his arms around his waist. "It was _horrible_." He whispered. "I could see and hear everything that was going on, but I couldn't do a thing! I was trapped in my own body."

"But you started fighting back."

The blonde nodded shakily. "I don't know how. It was after you said all that Welsh stuff. I'd been struggling as hard as I could and nothing was working, but when you said that it was like there was suddenly a weak spot and I managed to find a way through."

"You knew it was Welsh?"

"My Dad's Welsh. I don't speak a word but I know it when I hear it." Deidara managed a small smile. "Thank you for getting the damn thing out of me."

Itachi returned the smile with an arrogant smirk. "That's what I'm here for." He picked up a scorched text book and sighed when he turned the front cover to see that the burn went through the whole thing. "Are you going to be okay?"

Deidara snorted softly. "I was just possessed by a demon and I think I've broken my ribs, but yeah, I think I'll survive." He grinned slightly when Itachi's expression became a worried frown. "Seriously, I'll be alright. And they aren't really broken, it just feels like it."

"We can get you to A&E if you'd like..?"

"I'm _fine_. I just need the painkillers to kick in and a good night's sleep." He cast his gaze around the room again. "Will you need any help tidying this all up?"

"I'll do it later – I need to see what has been damaged first." Itachi looked up at his ceiling and groaned when he saw that the chalked symbol was now burnt into the plaster. "Mum's going to kill me." He said flatly.

Deidara smirked slightly. Hugging his arms around his aching stomach he glanced through the tattered curtains and swore when he saw the pouring rain. "Any chance I could get a lift home before your imminent murder?"

"Are you sure you don't want to wait a bit and let the meds kick in? You look like you're in a lot of pain."

"Honestly? I'd rather go home."

Itachi nodded, understanding that it was nothing personal; he'd have felt the same if it had been him. His friend was still pale, and the whole day had probably been rather overwhelming. Letting the blonde lean on him he helped Deidara limp down stairs and they made their way out to the car.

"Pain and general crappiness aside, today was kinda awesome." The artist stated quietly as Itachi reversed off the drive. "I made a force field!"

The Uchiha had to laugh at that, having spent most of his time with possessed-Deidara wondering why the blonde hadn't been crowing about it. "Yes, I heard." He took his eyes off the road momentarily to grin at his friend. "You also just kicked a demon out of your body."

"You helped."

"You did the difficult bit."

The blonde smiled at that, albeit in embarrassment. He chewed on his lip for a moment, seemingly thinking for something to say, before suddenly brightening again. "You never told me you knew Welsh."

"A few phrases here and there." Itachi shrugged lightly. "Quite a lot of old curses and spells are in the old British languages. Welsh, Norse, old English, Gaelic, I even know a smidgen of Norman French."

"That's just a bit awesome…"

"It's a pain trying to work out how to pronounce them. Half of those languages use letters that don't appear in modern English. And I have double issues since English is essentially my second language any way. That amount of translating just to work out what an ash or a thorn is supposed to sound like is almost not worth the effort." A frown crossed his face. "And don't even get me _started _on Welsh pronunciations!" Deidara laughed softly and he felt a warm glow of triumph at cheering his friend up a little.

"So, are there other languages as well that come in handy?" The blonde had found a thread of conversation he apparently liked, and Itachi didn't mind sharing the information – it was quite flattering actually that the artist thought him so knowledgeable.

"Most of the ancient languages are useful. The power doesn't necessarily come from them, but it gives the spell-caster more confidence in the spell itself. Plus it's a decent placebo towards the victim – a language never heard before sounds a lot more impressive. It sounds a little trite, but it's a known fact that if one was to try the charm I used on you in a modern language then it wouldn't have worked." He shrugged again. "There are quite a few groups of people out there trying to find out exactly why that is, but truth be told no one really knows."

"Which languages do you use then?"

Itachi laughed. "You can't expect me to list them all! There are some where I don't even know what I'm speaking in, I just memorised the sounds." He saw Deidara's eager smile from the corner of his eye and sighed in defeat. "Other than the ancient British – which we call Pan-Illyrian – and which generally work for most European spell work, there are various things from Africa and Asia that I use regularly. Ancient Chinese dialects, archaic Japanese, Sanskrit goes without saying, Hebrew, Aramaic, Adhari, ancient Egyptian in one case, Thracian, ancient Persian, Xhosa, Amharic, the list goes on." He rolled his eyes at the look the blonde was giving him. "It's not as impressive as it sounds. I can't for the life of me speak any of those – I just know a phrase or two."

"You have a serious misunderstanding of the term 'not impressive'." Deidara shook his head with a small smile. "You're a walking Wikipedia!"

"Is that meant to be a compliment?"

The blonde shook his head with a short laugh. "Seriously though, it is kinda cool. Not to mention I'd still be stuck with that demon if you didn't know all that."

"I'd have thought up something to get rid of it."

"Still. Thanks."

There was a moment of silence, in which Deidara had gone back to chewing his lip again. There seemed to be something beyond curiosity on his mind, and it left Itachi in the uncomfortable position of wanting to ask, but not entirely sure if he should pry. After all, being possessed by a demon is hardly a common day occurrence and it was bound to have upset the blonde somewhat.

Not for the first time Itachi wished he had better people skills.

"Tachi?"

On the plus side, if Deidara was willing to talk without being asked then the Uchiha was happy to listen. "Yes?"

There were pulling up to the blonde's house, which was possibly why Deidara had only just decided to ask what-ever was bugging him.

"Look, about what the demon said, about me…liking you."

"Oh, that?" Itachi shrugged lightly, about to reply that it was fine. He knew that demons lied and it had been a cheap shot to call the blondes feelings into question.

Only Deidara beat him to it.

One hand on the door handle and refusing to make eye contact, the artist hurriedly blurted out the problem.

"I didn't mean to! I tried to stop that damn thing from saying anything, which of course egged it on, and I panicked, and now I don't know what to do! I wasn't going to tell you!" He half opened the door – very obviously about to beat a hasty retreat the moment he was finished. "I was doing so well! No one had noticed and I thought it would be fine as long as you didn't know! I didn't want to make you feel awkward, I know you have no inclination of that kind and I didn't want to freak you out, and, and, and I value our friendship too much!" He glanced up to meet Itachi's stunned gaze before looking away again. "This wasn't meant to happen! I didn't want to put you in this position where you'd always be cautious around me! I'll try to make this right, I promise! It's only a crush, it's not like I'm in love with you or something – that would be stupid! – I swear it's just a stupid crush and I'm behaving like a fucking teenager! I'll make this right, you can just forget anything that demon said. _I'll make this right_!"

And with that he was gone; sprinting up the path to his house.

And all Itachi could do was stare blankly at where the blonde had been sitting, the revelation leaving him reeling.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWW

**I did it! I finished a chapter!**

**I swear I'll try to never let it be so long between updates ever again! **

**Here are translations and such for the random amount of Latin and Welsh in this chapter. I don't speak Welsh and my Latin is appalling so blame any and all mistakes on google translate ^_^ The exorcism chant is the one used in Supernatural (according to whichever site I found it one) and the other spells are made up. **

**Oh, and the Ita/Dei? I did warn you and it has finally begun! Happiness! And just in time for Valentine's day….(a coincidence, I assure you, I HATE Valentine's day with a passion!).**

'_Foolish mortal feel my wrath, let my anger force you into submission.'_ Gaga style!

'_Go now to whatever hell awaits you!' _In Welsh.

'_mischief and mayhem, I call upon thee!' _In Latin

"_Out foul spawn of darkness. Leave and return not to this place where you are not welcome" _In Welsh

Ash and Thorn = æ and ð (I don't know if that will be visible in ...) essentially two letters used in ancient English in the time leading up to the Norman conquest. As far as I know the Scandinavian countries (and maybe some others) still use them. I wish we did, they're awesome... :(


	7. Chapter 7

**UPDATE!**

**Just thought I'd proclaim that fact Sorry for the wait (although I've made you wait longer before now…) still trying to wrestle my way through my Masters (so very nearly finished…!). By September I should be a free girl though, so cake for all and much more regular chapters (no, really!).**

**As always, thankyou for sticking with this, I love each and every one of you who reads this and double hugs and kisses to my reviewers (have I ever mentioned that I'm a review junkie…?). With thanks to my beta who found time in her hectic routine, dedications to Squid because she tends to go emo if I don't and a quick reminder that I own nothing but the plot. Oh, and Penny. She's mine **

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

"_This wasn't meant to happen! I didn't want to put you in this position where you'd always be cautious around me! I'll try to make this right, I promise! It's only a crush, it's not like I'm in love with you or something – that would be stupid! – I swear it's just a stupid crush and I'm behaving like a fucking teenager! I'll make this right, you can just forget anything that demon said. __I'll make this right__!"_

_And with that he was gone; sprinting up the path to his house._

_And all Itachi could do was stare blankly at where the blonde had been sitting, the revelation leaving him reeling._

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWW

Five hours had passed.

Itachi sat in his room – now immaculate since there's nothing like tiding up to keep your mind off things you really don't want to think about – and stared wearily at the video feed on his laptop screen.

"Repeat it just one more time please."

He sighed irritably. "Deidara likes me. In _that_ sort of sense. And now I have no idea what to do." He glared at the faces in the webcam. "And that's the third time you've made me repeat it so I can only conclude that telling you and asking for advice was a bad idea since all you wish to do is ridicule me."

Mai giggled, then quickly covered her mouth and tried to look like she hadn't. "I'm sorry, Itachi-kun, but it _is_ rather funny!"

"I'm glad you think so." The Uchiha said dryly. "Do any of you have anything to say that may actually be of some help, or is the situation too much to handle?"

"You have to admit; from our point of view this is hilarious." Bou-san added. "We never thought you'd even get a girlfriend, let alone a _boy_friend."

"He is _not_ my boyfriend and I do not appreciate the insinuation that I am anything other than entirely heterosexual!" Itachi's patience, limited at the best of times, had worn thin as he snapped back in reply. "I called you in the mistaken belief that maybe you'd have an idea of how I should deal with this insane situation. If all you're going to do is poke fun, I might as well go elsewhere!"

"Do calm down Itachi." The sentence was spoken in English, which drew Itachi's attention to it more so than to the protestations his friends were yelling. Naru pushed the rest of the group out of the way and sat himself down at the computer so that he was in direct view of the webcam. "Mai, tea please. You others, try to find something useful to do." His curt orders garnered a great deal of grumbling but the team dispersed and the head of the company steepled his fingers. "So, of all things you need help with romance?" He'd switched back to English again, his smooth Oxbridge accent sounding as snobbish as ever to Itachi's mind.

"I hardly think you're in a position to lecture me here, Naru. Your own love-life isn't exactly up to much."

"Be that as it may, I find it amusing to see you in this position."

"I'm glad I can contribute to your daily intake of humour."

Naru sighed at Itachi's terse reply. "Do you want help or not?"

The Uchiha glared at him haughtily, but his returning look of polite enquiry seemed to drain the anger from his friend and Itachi's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I don't know what to do." He admitted quietly. The stress lines down his face were more pronounced than ever in the shadowy room as he shrugged slightly. "Everything seemed to be going so well, and now _this_. I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Has it occurred to you that you needn't do anything?"

"I can't just ignore that it happened, he deserves more than that."

Naru sat back in his chair, folding his arms smugly. "Well, at least you are approaching this with the decency such a situation requires."

"If I can take on the supernatural I can work through the feelings my best friend has for me." Itachi was taken aback by the kind smile that lit his friend's face in response to those words; Naru didn't tend to waste effort with kindness when cold logic would suffice. "What?"

"Did you know there was a time when we all despaired that you would ever open up enough to even consider someone a true friend?" The SPR director asked softly. He held up a hand as Itachi began to protest. "Oh, I'm sure you had labelled and filed us under the 'friends' category, but you never truly trusted any of us with the things that mattered. Even I barely know what's going on inside that head of yours, but this Deidara appears to have you completely sussed within a few months and you trust him implicitly."

"I never said that I trusted him."

"You didn't need to, your actions speak for themselves."

Itachi didn't quite understand the sentiment so merely nodded

"So. What are you intending to do then?" Naru calmly turned the conversation back to the matter in hand. "You need to let him down in some way I'm guessing?"

"I don't know. Maybe not." Itachi rubbed a tired hand across his eyes. "He seemed to already assume my reaction, so I don't think I need to spell it out to him as such. But we need to talk it all over and I don't know how to do that." He shrugged hopelessly. "How do I tell my best friend that I don't return his feelings?"

The director shrugged. "Honestly? I have no idea. This was always Gene's area of expertise. I can pass you over to Mai though – she's stopped giggling now."

Itachi's expression said quite plainly that he was rather unhappy with that idea, but Naru had already called the younger girl back over to the computer. She pushed the sullen director out of the way and planted herself in view of the webcam, a sunny smile on her face.

"So, you need help then, Ita-kun?"

Itachi took a second or so to process the comment as his mind switched back to operating in Japanese, then he nodded in resignation.

"I think I do." He sighed wearily as the girl clapped her hands together with glee. "I want to turn him down Mai, as nicely as possible."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'! Because he's male and I'm male and I'm not attracted to my own gender!"

"How do you know?"

"Mai..." The Uchiha's voice became a warning growl. "My sexuality is not in question here!"

She shrugged easily – obviously working so closely with Naru had made her immune to such tones and glares. "I just think you should keep an open mind here. Would it hurt to go on a date or something?"

"Out of the question."

"Tough." Mai's large eyes narrowed into a stubborn expression. "You want my advice? Here it is; don't just run away from this."

Itachi leaned back slightly in surprise at her fervent exclamation. "I'm not running away-"

"Yes you are." The girl folded her arms. "You've found yourself in a situation that you're uncomfortable with so you're trying to sweep it under the rug! Well, all that will do is destroy the friendship that you currently value so highly, and I'm sure you don't want that."

"Of course not, but-"

"But you don't know how to cope with this." She finished with a fond smile.

Itachi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I suppose that's one way of putting it." He dipped his head. "I bow to your superior expertise then. What do you suggest I do?"

"Go on a date."

"MAI!"

The girl grinned at his furious glare. "I mean it. Not a romantic date or anything, just go for a coffee and talk things over." She said cheerfully. "There's no magic solution to this to put everything back the way it was, but instead of telling us that you've been thrown in at the deep end, tell _him_."

That made sense, but wasn't really what Itachi had been hoping for. He knew that things weren't going to just solve themselves, but at the same time rather wished that he could avoid what was going to be a very awkward conversation.

"How do I go about talking to him about this?"

Mai steepled her fingers. "Now _that_ is the million dollar question."

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Deidara turned the keys in the ignition, stopping the engine.

His ribs still hurt like crazy and truth be told he should have probably been in bed, not parked in some rain-sodden little alleyway at stupid-o-clock in the morning, but he was never really one for looking after himself.

"Okay, I'm not stepping out of the car, any chance you could come in here?" He felt ridiculous talking to thin air, staring out of the windscreen into the pitch darkness. A good few minutes went past before he sighed in frustration. "Okay, this was stupid."

"Yeah, it really was."

Deidara jumped violently, scooting back in his seat so that he was pressed up against the car door.

"Bloody hell! Don't sneak up like that!"

Penny smiled sweetly. "I can't help it, sneaking up on people is part of the ghost job description." She looked him over and frowned. "What happened to you? You look like a horse and cart ran you over!"

"Demon possession."

"Ah. Fun." The ghost leant forwards to rest her arms on the dashboard – or at least to rest a centimetre or so _above_ the dashboard. "So. I know I said to come and see me again, but it needn't have been at two am in the morning. I don't know if Itachi's told you this, but ghosts can manifest during the day too, I can talk to you at a more decent hour if you like?"

"Yeah I know, but I couldn't sleep."

"So you thought you'd come for a visit?" Penny raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Well, it's two am, we're inside a cosy car and no-one can see us. Narration dictates certain things at this point, if you want to take your mind off of things maybe…?"

"Penny; you're _dead_."

She sighed, grinning at the same time. "Worth a try. Virginity was a big deal back in 1800's and I still think it was unfair that I died before marriage. Sure I can't tempt you?"

"I also happen to be gay."

"I know, I know. I'm just messing with you." Penny sat back with a grin, straightening out her layers of skirts.

Deidara eyed the ghost warily. He still wasn't entirely sure why he had come here – beyond her being the only other person he could think of who actually knew anything about Itachi. She also still creeped him out.

"So, if you aren't here on a social call, what's wrong?" Penny was watching him with the beginnings of concern on her face. "Has something happened?"

"You could say that…"

The ghost folded her arms in a stance reminiscent of a school teacher. "Don't make me drag this out of you. What's happened?"

"I….I think I've just destroyed the best friendship I've ever had." Deidara looked up to see a 'go on, tell me more' expression on Penny's face. "This may take a while."

"Darling, I'm dead. I have all the time in the world. Tell me everything, from the start."

So Deidara did. Beginning with the sleepover in which the kids had accidently called the demon up, he explained the entire set of events leading up to his own possession. And then his unplanned confession afterwards.

By the time he was done Penny's cheerful smile had faded.

"You do know that Itachi is homophobic, right?"

"I know, I know." Deidara rested his head in his hands with a groan. "I just…I was confused from the possession, in a lot of pain, and still very faint and I just…Oh I don't know. I've completely destroyed our friendship, haven't I?"

"Well…I'd like to be able to put your mind at ease, but…"

"Yeah." Deidara looked side-on at the ghost. "You're rather open minded for a Victorian aren't you? I thought homosexuality had the death penalty or something in your day."

"This isn't my day any more, and death changes one's perspective on things." Penny smiled. "When you're dead it can be very lonely, and that opens the mind to accepting things that may have once been seen as taboo. I'm a twenty first century girl now, in crinolines and a corset." She rested her hand on his arm, ignoring his violent shiver. "Have you spoken to Itachi since your little outburst?"

"Um….No. Not yet."

"Don't you think that might be a good idea?"

"I don't know what to _say_ to him!" Deidara wailed. "I never wanted him to find out in the first place!"

Penny bit her lip in thought, a frown creasing her brow.

"Maybe you should tell him that."

"I did."

"No. I mean the two of you need to sit down and _talk_ about this. You're right in saying that this will probably have an effect on your friendship but it needn't be an adverse one."

Deidara shrugged despondently. "I fail to see how it can be anything else."

The ghost smiled gently. "Look, I'm not saying that if you two sit down and have a chat it will transpire that Itachi has been hiding secret feelings for you or something. That only happens in stories. However, you may be able to come to an agreement to forget that it ever happened. Sure, things will be awkward for a week or so, but it should be back to normal eventually."

"Eventually…"

"Better than never."

Deidara ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. Yeah I guess so." He slumped down in his seat with a sigh. "I just wish I'd kept my stupid mouth shut."

"That may have been easier." Penny agreed – far too quickly for Deidara's liking. "But shit happens, and then you have to live with the consequences. I'm a prime example of that." She waved her hand through the dashboard to emphasise her point.

"So…Should I call him, or what?"

The ghost laughed. "Right now? It's nearly three AM. I'd suggest that you go home and get some sleep before you do anything. You look like hell."

"Wow, thanks." The young man smiled wryly, rubbing his aching ribs. "But you may have a point."

"Put some iodine on it." Penny suggested helpfully.

"The chemists don't retail iodine anymore."

"Shame."

Deidara turned the key in the ignition and the car's engine spluttered back to life. "Okay then. I'll get some decent sleep, then I'll…call him in the morning?"

"Wait until lunch time."

"Okay, lunchtime then."

The ghost patted him on the arm, making him wince. "Don't worry, it'll be okay. And you make sure to come and tell me how it went!"

"Sure thing."

Penny leant over and Deidara managed to suppress his shiver this time as she kissed him on the cheek. "I'll hold you to that, darling." Her voice echoed around the car as she flickered and vanished.

"Bye then…" The blonde shook his head in disbelief – he still didn't understand ghosts.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMMWMW

In fact, it was neither Deidara nor Itachi that made the first move the next morning. A message from Pein had asked the group to meet up down at his house, and both had individually decided to hold off their uncomfortable meeting until after that. Cowardly maybe, but it certainly gave both of them a little extra time to think.

Most of the group failed to notice any tension between the two young men, especially when Itachi gave an account of the night's happenings with the demon. He was a fairly decent storyteller and with the story matter at hand it wasn't difficult to keep the group of young men distracted.

Konan, on the other hand was an entirely different matter. Her calculating gaze remained pinned to Deidara throughout the whole tale, causing his already-acute discomfort to heighten. Once Itachi had finished and was now repeating things on request she grabbed Deidara's arm and dragged him into the kitchen under the pretence of getting some drinks.

"You seem overly freaked out, are you alright?" She sat down on the table, watching him carefully.

Deidara shrugged. "Being possessed like that wasn't pleasant. I'm still a little shaken up."

"It's more than that." The girl's eyes narrowed as she cast a critical gaze over him. "Were you hurt? You seem more hunched than normal, and you've been limping."

The relief that flooded through the blonde was immense. He'd been certain that Konan had guessed that the nature of his relationship with Itachi had changed. As it was it appeared that Konan was concerned that he'd been injured and was trying to hide it.

"I've badly bruised my ribs and am still a little queasy." He admitted.

"I thought so. Did you take any painkillers?" When the blonde shook his head Konan rolled her eyes. "Thought not. _Men_!" She pulled a packet of paracetamol out of the cupboard under the sink and tossed it too him. "Two of those should help."

"Thanks."

"Just don't be such a macho idiot in future." She grinned at him. "Are you okay though? Being possessed during an exorcism can't have been fun."

"I'll live."

"I'm sure." She patted him on the shoulder.

Meanwhile in the living room the conversation was still heavily concentrated on demons, and more to the point the one that they'd just encountered and how Itachi had got rid of it.

"So where did it _go_?"

The Uchiha shook his head. "I don't know. Wherever it came from. Limbo, purgatory, maybe even Hell."

Hidan looked up sharply, a frown etched across his face. "Hell? It exists then?"

"I couldn't say. Possibly?"

The albino bit his lip, looking increasingly worried. "So demons exist, and Hell quite likely exists." He unconsciously rubbed the tattooed crucifix on the inside of his wrist. "Shit…"

"Why so worried? You're practically ordained." Kisame poked his friend with his foot.

"Yes, but there's a distinct difference between believing in something and then having it turn up on your doorstep." Hidan snapped. He scowled as the older man prodded him again. "Quit it!"

"Why're you so concerned about it anyway?"

"I'm not concerned, just shocked." The albino's expression suddenly brightened. "_Hey_! Does this mean angels exist too?" He looked at Itachi eagerly. "Well?"

"No idea." The Uchiha said flatly. "I've never personally seen any evidence, but on the other hand the Americans who told me how to exorcise the demon claim to be running around with one."

That seemed to garner everyone's attention. "_Really_?"

"I wouldn't take their word for it though – they also claim to have just stopped the apocalypse."

"Oh." And the attention quickly diminished.

Itachi looked up in time to see Deidara and Konan re-enter the room and for a moment his and the blonde's eyes met. Deidara then pointedly moved his gaze away – turning a furious red. It was very clear that things were going to be horribly awkward between them.

As it was, the talk with his Japanese friends had convinced Itachi at least to not back away from this problem and in his usual direct manner he tackled it head on.

"Dei, can I have a word please?"

"What? _Now_?" The blonde looked horrified. "Can't we talk later?"

"No. Now."

Konan – not understanding the situation – gave Deidara a push in the small of his back. "Go on, we'll hold some beer back for the two of you."

Itachi had already risen to his feet and beckoned the blonde over. Deidara grudgingly complied, following the Uchiha out through the kitchen and into the back garden. He slumped down to sit on the paving flags, leaning back against the brick wall of the house regardless of the cigarette butts littered around. To his surprise Itachi sat down beside him, primly sweeping some of the ash and fag ends out of the way first.

A long moment of silence stretched out before the blonde sighed heavily.

"I don't know what you want me to say." He whispered. "I was scared, hurt and seriously fucked up. I wasn't thinking."

"I know."

"So what are we doing out here?"

"Did you mean it?"

Deidara stared resolutely at the ground as his cheeks reddened. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't." He hissed.

"So you…like me then?"

"God Itachi! Do you have to draw this out?" Deidara slammed his head back against the bricks in exasperation. "I'm sorry, okay? I can't take back what I said as much as I wish I could, but can't we just _forget_ about it?"

Itachi shrugged listlessly. "It's not going to be that easy to forget about, is it? A bit of an elephant in the room as it were." He twisted his hands where they were sat in his lap. "I don't know what to do." The admission was quiet.

"Meaning what? You want to just stop being friends now or something?" The blonde demanded. "I was doing fine ignoring any attraction I have, why can't that just continue? Why are you so adamant that our friendship has to be marred by this?"

Itachi sighed, tipping his head back against the wall to mirror his friend's action. "I never said it would be marred."

There was another long pause, the two young men both staring anywhere but each other.

"What do you mean by that?" Deidara's voice was flat, expressionless. He didn't dare let a sliver of emotion out now, despite how hard his pulse was throbbing.

"I…" Itachi resolutely continued to stare at the bare tree at the end of the garden. "I'm not gay." He stated. "But you already know that, hence the issue. And I've also expressed some homophobic tendencies…" He was interrupted by a snort of laughter from Deidara at that statement. "Okay, lots of tendencies. But I, well, hanging around with you guys has made me a little more liberal, I guess."

Deidara started, his head snapping round so that he could look at the Uchiha in surprise. "What are you getting at?"

Itachi actually laughed at the blonde's reaction. "I need to make one thing _very_ clear – this is _not_ going to be one of those fairy-tales where I have magically decided that actually I was wrong all along, my orientation has changed and we'll waltz into a sunset."

The statement made Deidara gape at him for a moment before the tension between them broke and he burst out laughing. "Oh woe, there go all my hopes and dreams!" He raised his hand to his forehead dramatically. "How will I cope?"

"You sound like a Mills and Boon novel."

"A what now?"

Itachi shook his head. "Never mind, it's not important." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, back to the case in hand. I'm not gay, bi or any other word that there is like that."

"So…Where are you going with this exactly?"

The Uchiha glanced to his side to see his friend's expression fall. "I'm saying that…well, whilst I am not sexually attracted to you, I enjoy your company immensely and we seem to work very well together. Maybe we could…Well perhaps…" He coughed and looked away again, his face steadily growing red. "How about coffee?"

The three words came out so quickly that Deidara almost didn't catch them and then when he did he just stared.

"What…?"

"Coffee. You, me, a café, coffee." Itachi's blush had passed through red and to Deidara's artist-eye he was now a deep shade of maroon. "I believe it is called a date."

"You're…asking me out…?" The blonde whispered incredulously.

"I'm not making any promises, I'm not saying that anything will come of this and I'm not saying that this will change me or my opinions, but I'm willing to try a…date." The Uchiha spoke it like a business proposal. "Just coffee." He finally risked looking at Deidara and was taken aback by the blonde's blinding smile.

"Are you sure?"

"Not really, but I don't want to lose our friendship, and maybe it's worth giving this a shot."

The blonde looked stunned by the turn of events. "I…thank you." The grin came back. "I was expecting you to never want to talk to me again."

Itachi smiled as well. "I still have time to reconsider, so be nice."

Deidara gently punched the other student's shoulder. "Sure thing."

"So…tomorrow then?"

"Tomorrow. Three o'clock, café in the square?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Great!" Deidara pulled himself back up to his feet – a silly grin still plastered across his face. "It's a date!"

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**Note: I've described Naru's accent as 'Oxbridge'. A) it never really states what his accent is, so I just picked a posh one to suit him and B) For those of you unfamiliar with England, 'Oxbridge' is a term used to describe people who have been to either Oxford or Cambridge university and are therefore considered the epitome of poshness.**

**Until next time my darlings, until next time!**


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